SHAFAQNA PAKISTAN (Shia News Agency)
US who was once encouraging India’s greater role in Afghanistan has taken a sudden U-turn and now encouraging Pakistan’s role in Afghanistan. As Afghanistan moved closer to holding direct peace talks with the Taliban, the US State Department acknowledged that Pakistan too has a stake in the outcome.“In terms of the role of Pakistan, we have long encouraged Pakistan to support (Afghan) President (Ashraf) Ghani’s reconciliation efforts,” said the department’s spokesperson Jen Psaki when asked to define Islamabad’s role in these talks” reported AFP.
The sudden change in US approach could be because of two reasons. First, US wants to evacuate Afghanistan because of heavy loss inflicted upon US and NATO forces by Taliban and US economy is heavily suffering from huge military expenditures in Afghanistan and for this exit, they need a safe passage which could be only possible if Pakistan guarantees assurance from Taliban not to attack US forces and it is only possible if Pakistan takes a driving seat in Afghanistan’s matter. It seems that deal between Pakistan and US is that US is ready to give Pakistan a greater role in Afghanistan and in turn wants Taliban not to attack evacuating US and NATO forces. Second important factor is that US do not want to take blame to leave this region distress because if Taliban are not made a part of government, they would wreak havoc on Afghanistan and blame would ultimately go to flawed policies of US. Thus US want to placate Taliban through Afghanistan. These are the very reasons that US is not only supporting but facilitating Pakistan’s greater role in Afghanistan.
pakistan.shafaqna.com
