By
Sankar Ray
Keeping
NATO-allies blindsided, US President Donald John Trump announced withdrawal
7,000 out of 14,000 troops from Afghanistan – one of the decisions disagreeing
with which Secretary of Defence Jim Mattis put in his papers. However, the
chief executive office at Kabul heaved a sigh of relief and appreciated the US
initiative in successfully in persuading Taliban militants to hold face-to-face
talks with the government, having taken place in Qatar capital Doha. A
spokesperson Feraidoon Khozon said, “We are still optimistic and hopeful that
Taliban will meet Afghanistan’s negotiating team. Our regional and US friends
are trying to pave the ground and encourage Taliban to hold face to face talks
with government’s team,” although Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid stated
bluntly that the Taliban negotiators would not meet the government’s delegation
while the latter seems prepared to extend negotiations with the US Special
Envoy for Peace and Reconciliation Amb Zalmay Khalilzad for a second round of
the on-going peace process.
Last
year Mattis and other top military advisors prevailed over Trump to commit
thousands of new troops to Afghanistan, where the Taliban were slaughtering
local forces in the thousands and making major gains, despite the US
President’s expressed instinct to get out of Afghanistan. The decision to pull
out dazed and stupefied NATO allies that launched the Operation Resolute
Support in 2015 to train and advise the Afghan security forces – an operation
involving nearly 16,000 troops and 41 nations. Trump’s plans had no advance
notice or preparation. Conceitedly, he tweeted, “We have defeated ISIS in
Syria… Getting out of Syria was no surprise. I’ve been campaigning on it for
years, and six months ago, when I very publicly wanted to do it, I agreed to
stay longer. Russia, Iran, Syria & others are the local enemy of ISIS. We
were doing their work. Time to come home & rebuild.”
Expressing
strong resent for NATO allies, hardly left being kept in the dark — neither
the U.S. Congress nor the Afghan government was briefed on the withdrawal plans
in advance — Oana Lungescu, Romania-born NATO spokeswoman, in a statement
asserted that the alliance remained committed to Operation Resolute Support.
“In general, let me remind you that the Afghan army and police have been fully
in charge of the security of Afghanistan for over four years. Our aim is to
train, advise and assist the Afghan forces, as they create the conditions for
peace. At the NATO summit in July, allied leaders also agreed to extend funding
for the Afghan security forces until 2024. Earlier this month, NATO foreign
ministers expressed steadfast commitment to ensuring long-term security and
stability in Afghanistan. Our engagement is important to ensure that
Afghanistan never again becomes a safe haven for international terrorists, who
could threaten us at home. They are a brave, committed and increasingly capable
force, who have ensured the security of the parliamentary elections earlier
this year.”
U.S.
ambassador to NATO Kay Bailey Hutchison participated in the two-day EU conference
on non-proliferation a short while back in Brussels before her holiday break.
NATO
allies keep battling with Trump’s unpredictability throughout his presidency.
He issued a thinly veiled threat to pull out of the alliance unless the former
ramped up their annual national military spending without delay, implementing
the NATO commitment of incurring 2 per cent of GDP.
The
basis for pull-out was for quite some time being woven in Doha, detailed by
Sayeeda Mamoona Rubab in the current issue of Lahore-based The Friday Times on
another round of bilateral dialogue between the US and Taliban ‘on jumpstarting
the elusive peace process’ held in Abu Dhabi this week amidst intensifying
international efforts to end the conflict in Afghanistan and President Trump’s
growing impatience with the war. ’ Earlier a few rounds of talks were held in
Doha before the latest interaction in the United Arab Emirates. But this time
the meeting was broad-based with representatives of Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and
UAE participating. Afghanistan sent two sets of delegations to Abu Dhabi, one
led by its National Security Adviser Hamdullah Mohib and the other by senior
presidential aide Salam Rahimi, whose team followed Mohib after the latter
completed his set of meetings with US, Saudi Arabia and UAE in both bilateral
and quadrilateral formats.
There
is no denying that Pakistan has consistently been a staunch proponent of a
peaceful settlement with the Taliban, who were removed from power after the US
invasion in the wake of 9/11 terror attacks on the World Trade Centre and
Pentagon. Islamabad responded to President Trump’s request to Prime Minister
Imran Khan for help in ending the conflict. Trump too never hid his impatience
with the war in Afghanistan and he laid down a six-month deadline to his point
man for peace and reconciliation, a compulsion slapped by the financial and
bloody reality: loss of over 2,300 US soldiers and one trillion US dollars.
Moreover Trump wants to disengage from Afghanistan as he primes for a war with
Iran.
While
the stand-off between the Trump administration and NATO casts a cloudy shadow,
Kabul takes a cautious stand, as reflected in the views of Afghan political
analyst Ahmad Saeedi .Taliban is yet to endorse the US and UAE demands to meet
with Afghan government delegation. Taliban’s insistence on the timetable of the
US forces’ pullout shows they would probably meet with the government of
Afghanistan in the future, he added.
(IPA Service)
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