The US hopes to win by proxy in Afghanistan, Ali Ahmad Karimi, an Afghani political observer told Sputnik. According to the observer, Washington should team up with the major players in the region, most notably with Russia, on the principles of justice and mutual respect to tackle the terror threat.
The United States wants its allies and partners to pull its chestnuts out of the fire in Afghanistan, Ali Ahmad Karimi, an Afghani political observer told Sputnik, adding that it’s obvious that Washington cannot tackle the terrorist threat posed by Taliban alone.
The White House and the Pentagon have been considering a more assertive military strategy in Afghanistan that will target both Taliban and Haqqani network fighters, NBC News reported Saturday, citing four defense officials.
The new vision, backed by National Security Adviser and former military leader in Afghanistan General H.R. McMaster, is expected to be presented to US President Donald Trump in early July and released to the public in mid-July, the media outlet wrote.
Meanwhile, during a Thursday meeting in Brussels, the NATO defense ministers pledged to strengthen the alliance’s combat potential and discussed the future of the bloc’s Resolute Support mission in Afghanistan.
Addressing the meeting, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that the fifteen countries participating in NATO’s Resolute Support mission in Afghanistan had expressed their willingness to increase the number of troops in the country.
The mission envisaging the training, advising and assisting of the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces was launched on January 1, 2015.
“Today I can confirm that we will increase our presence in Afghanistan. Fifteen nations have already pledged additional contributions to the Resolute Support mission. And I look forward to furthering announcements from other nations,” Stoltenberg told reporters before a NATO defense ministers’ summit in Brussels.
While the US has yet to determine its official strategic objectives in Afghanistan, the Pentagon is determined to beef up its military presence in the region.
“Looking back on it, it’s pretty much a consensus that we may have pulled our troops out too rapidly, reduced the numbers a little too rapidly,” US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis told the press following the summit.
According to NBC’s defense sources, Jim Mattis is due to approve a plan to deploy upwards of 4,000 more US military servicemen to Afghanistan. According to some estimates, there are currently 8,400 US troops on the ground on a mission to train, advize and assist Afghan forces.
Commenting on the issue, Karimi called attention to the fact that the US still lacks a clear strategy both in the Middle East and Afghanistan. This inconsistent foreign policy has already borne bitter fruit, he added.
“The collapse and shortsightedness of US strategy in the Middle East, including in Syria, have become the reason for the intensification of the domestic political crisis in America,” Karimi told Sputnik.
“The internal US contradictions have led to unprecedented tension in the interaction between America and other countries. There is no unity of opinion even among the allies of the United States and NATO members. Therefore, Trump still does not have a clear strategy regarding a number of issues and Afghanistan is no exception,” the Afghani political observer elaborated.
Karimi highlighted that the Pentagon’s previous strategy in Afghanistan has obviously failed and alienated the local population from the US. Taking into accounts its earlier failures, the US military is developing a new plan, he noted.
“After the failure of plan A, the US embarked on the implementation of Plan B. The White House pinned its hopes on its allies and Pakistan in Afghanistan, and Saudi Arabia and Jordan — in Iraq and Syria. However, that didn’t work: Russia has achieved success in the fight against terrorism, which boosted its reputation in the international arena. Now the US is forced to proceed with the Plan C,” Karimi said.
America’s war in Afghanistan has become the longest foreign war in history. However, it seems that Washington is not ready to bring it to a halt. The crux of the matter is that the US cannot withdraw from the region without scoring a victory over the Taliban, Karimi noted, adding that Washington’s defeat in the region would amount to a “collapse of the American empire.”
“The US will continue to wage war in Afghanistan only in order to uphold its honor. After all, this is not a war of the Afghani people, this is the war of the US which has also dragged NATO into it,” he said.
“The deployment of a new foreign military contingent in Afghanistan will not lead to the defeat of the Taliban,” the Afghani observer believes, “Now their [Taliban’s] morale is stronger than ever. In over 16 years of war, the US hasn’t managed to win a victory. As a result, heavy losses were incurred, and Kabul became the most insecure city in Afghanistan.”
According to Karimi, most countries in the region do not believe in the sincerity of the US commitment to the fight against terrorism. He underscored that Washington should team up with Russia to tackle the terror threat.
“The US expects the countries of the region to cooperate [with Washington] on terms favorable for America: [it is supposed that] they will do all the dirty work, while the United States will score a ‘clean’ victory. The US must fight terrorism together with regional countries, especially with Russia, without any conditions, on the principles of justice and mutual respect,” the Afghani political observer emphasized.
Source: Sputnik