Afghanistan Times
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The US defense secretary Ashton Carter landed Kabul on Friday for an unannounced visit. During the visit which would be probably the last one of Mr. Carter as the Pentagon chief, he met Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and is scheduled to speak to the American troops at the Bagram Air Base.
In a joint press briefing with President Ghani, Carter reassured Afghan people that his country will “remain committed” to Afghanistan.
The United States currently has 8,900 soldiers in the war-torn country mostly involved in training and advising of the Afghan security forces after the end of their combat mission at the end of 2014.
The remarks are stated by the senior US official while the security has got worsened this year with the intensity in the Taliban’s attacks. The insurgents now threaten people’s lives more than any time in the past.
He made the comments amid questions about what would be President-elect Donald Trump’s foreign policy mean for Afghanistan.
Besides, the incumbent president Barack Obama said recently that the US could not eliminate Taliban militants and end violence in Afghanistan. The statement disappointed Afghan people who think that the war would continue in their country despite the foreign troops’ presence.
If the international community especially the United States are serious to their commitments, they are asked to dry up the resources of terrorism which everybody knows are beyond the borders of Afghanistan.
This would be a waste of time and waste of finance and troops to pursue terrorism in the Afghan towns or villages. Both Obama and Trump each by their turns should pressure Pakistan to abandon sheltering and assisting Taliban and join the world community by cooperating with Afghan government and people in the counter terrorism.
Afghans are giving sacrifice for the past decade and half for the so-called ‘war on terror’, while the main sources of terrorism are safe in our neighboring country.
The real commitment is to cut off the roots of terrorism, not to keep war inflammable inside Afghanistan. We appreciate the US and other countries’ for what they did in Afghanistan. They helped us rebuild our national army and police, as well as other government institutions, but in the fight against terrorism, they should listen to the voice of Afghan people and statesmen.
We hope the next chief of the White House will pay more attention in ending the war of attrition in Afghanistan.
