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KABUL: Acting Defense Minister Assadullah Khalid said that Afghanistan had lost its army once before but he would not allow the destruction of the Afghan National Army (ANA) and its institutions yet again.
Assadullah Khalid made the remarks at a ceremony marking the National Army Day on Monday.
Addressing the gathering, Khalid said that a number of countries in the region were trying to destroy Afghanistan’s foundations and achievements with the help of proxies and agents within the country.
Khalid added that a number of ignorant Afghans, apparently implying the Taliban, were destroying Afghanistan in order to have foreign support.
“War is not what we want, we are fighting for preserving the national interests and institutions,” he maintained.
The Acting Minister of Defense also said that the armed opposition was spreading propaganda on social media that as soon as foreign troops left Afghanistan, the incumbent administration would collapse. “The world has become a village now where each constituent needs another. NATO will never leave Afghanistan.”
Khalid added that in case NATO and the United States left the country, the Afghan security forces would still be there to defend the country.
This comes as the Afghan peace process has once again arrived at a plateau due to differences over the prisoner release process and the level of violence has thus risen.
