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‘Afghan govt. to balance mechanism to take advantages from relations with US and regional countries’
AT-Kabul: Experts participated in the Rana Think Thank monthly session have expressed their deepest concerns over rump up war in Afghanistan, said that the new US strategy has focused more on military solution than soft ways, and reconciliation process.
Political and social experts, who attended the Rana Think Tank, said the US new strategy on Afghanistan would import different impacts to the country, including both positive and negative. They called on the government to get more advantages from positive points of the strategy and use it as a great opportunity for bringing durable peace, political and economic stability in the country.
A political expert, and keynote speaker, Ahmadullah Naweed told the participants that the US President Donald Trump has focused more on war in his new strategy on Afghanistan rather than peace and reconciliation process. “The strategy directly focused over war.”
According to him, the US administration in its new strategy to Afghanistan and South Asia has concentrated regional polarization which is completely a military action.
The expert believes that the US strategy toward Afghanistan is far from ground realities, and designed in an inverse fact of Afghanistan and region.
Coming up with an example, he said: “India’s more engagement in Afghanistan is a positive and welcoming move, but we should not forget that such developments could fuel the ongoing conflict in Afghanistan.”
“In the course of history, such mechanisms have never been lead to peace and prosperity in Afghanistan, instead fueled further war,” he said, adding that new US strategy is lacking regional consensus.
“Since the strategy formulated without regional countries consultation, not only showing weak points, but also gave birth to new challenges in the region and Afghanistan,” the expert added.
He furthered, the US strategy has enhanced India’s more roles in Afghanistan, but there is no single point to encourage Iran, Pakistan, China and Russia, which are key regional players.
According to him, Iran, Russia and other regional countries, opposing the new US strategy, have been directly and indirectly involved in Afghanistan’s affairs.
He termed regional discussions a key point to bring peace and stability in the country.
“It is right that one of the options is military action to suppress enemies and terrorists in the battlefield, but economic growth, job opportunities, increased local and foreign investments and other developmental projects were always the fundamentals to get rid of challenges,” he said, adding the US strategy is completely tight lipped over development in the war-hit country.
However, he hinted towards positive points, terming presence of US troops in Afghanistan of tremendous importance.
“Positive point in the new US strategy is Washington’s unlimited determination and commitment to Afghanistan and strengthening the Afghan defense and security forces, particularly, the Afghan Air Forces (AAF).
Second positive point in the strategy is the US tougher and hard approach on Pakistan for harboring and exporting various terrorist outfits in order to destabilize Afghanistan and to undermine the ongoing US-led NATO war on terror, he said, adding, Washington has termed Islamabad as the root cause of expanding and fueling violence and conflict in Afghanistan.
“Despite all negative and positive points in the new US strategy, still the Afghan government has opportunity to overcome internal rifts and adopt a balanced mechanism in a bid to get enough advantages from the relationship with US and regional countries,” he said.
Political Expert, Professor Qasem Jamdar said, the US has been following its colonialism plan in Afghanistan and pursuing its own interest.
To support his words, he said the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), assessing ministries of the unity government, has reported that such action showed a kind of colonialism views in the country.
Head of the Center for Regional Strategic Studies, Rafiullah Niazi, said following the new strategy, US has been making efforts to maintain its own interest.
He added, further involvement of India in Afghanistan’s affairs can ignite a kind of proxy war in Afghanistan and it would oblige us to be in conflict with neighboring for long time, in which only Afghan masses would be the victims.
Moreover, he said the long term presence of US troops is not acceptable for any neighboring country in Afghanistan. “Thus we would be victims of a regional proxy war for longtime.”
Mansoor Ahmad Faizy, Editor-in-Chief of Afghanistan Times Daily, believes that US can do much more in Afghanistan to bring peace and stability. “We are truly thankful from what the US is doing in Afghanistan, especially in war on terror, but there is much has to be done,” he said, adding that Afghanistan needs a strong army and air forces.
“Since US focused more on war in its new strategy, it is time for the National Unity Government to call upon Washington to provide states-of-the-art weaponries to the Afghan security forces,” he said, lamented that Afghan forces and civilians, being a front line, have been the victims of global war on terror.
We have rendered the largest number of sacrifices, but peace and stability still seem a distant dream, Faizy said, while terming the US tough approach toward Pakistan—the mother of terrorist groups, according to him, a very significant move in the fight against terrorist.
Kabul former Governor, and head of governor association, Andul Jabar Taqwa, said Pakistan is more valuable for US, thus the US only issued some warnings to this country, but never would be brought into the court of justice for its wrongdoings.
He added: “Pressure that has been posed to Pakistan through the new US strategy is in a bid to make Pakistan more loyal to the United States.
However, the Afghan government welcomed US strategy, saying Afghanistan’s interest is observed.
