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US may use 'military means' to defend Afghanistan until 2024

Published time: April 23, 2012 12:07
Edited time: April 23, 2012 18:12
U.S. servicemen sit after boarding a transport plane before leaving for Afghanistan at the U.S. transit center at Manas airport near Bishkek, March 27, 2012 (Reuters/Vladimir Pirogov)

The long-waited withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan may be not as “full” as had been expected. The US will help defend the country militarily for at least a decade after Afghans take control of their security, a National Security Adviser said.

The pledge is contained in the new strategic pact agreed between the two countries on Sunday, Rangin Dadfar Spanta said on Monday. A section of this pact implies that the US will not to use Afghanistan as a launch pad for attacks on other countries in the region, including for drone strikes.

However he stressed that the US will only come to Afghanistan's aid with approval from Kabul.

Washington may use “diplomatic means, political means, economic means and even military means,” the official said, as cited by AP.

Also under the agreement, after 2014 the US will continue supporting Afghan security forces financially. The US will fork out up to $4 billion annually, if the funding is approved by the Congress.

However it remains unclear whether Afghanistan would approve such military assistance from the US. The two countries are facing a serious setback in their relations after a number of incidents involving the US troops deployed in Afghanistan.

In the wake of the Kandahar massacre, when a US soldier shot dead 17 Afghan civilians in a nighttime killing spree, US President Barack Obama pledged to get his troops out of Afghanistan in a “responsible way,” in order to make sure there will be no need to get back in.

The US has long promised to withdraw its troops by 2014 and hand over control to the Afghan authorities. In February, the US Department of Defense even stated that they were planning to complete withdrawal of the combat troops from Afghanistan by the end of 2013.

The remaining troops were planned to be transited from a “combat role to a training, advise-and-assist role,” Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said.

­It is not the first time the US has clung tenaciously to the territories its troops set foot into. After the invasion in Iraq in to 2003, it took the US almost nine years, and several postponed deadlines, finally to move all its troops out of the country.

Between the partial withdrawal in 2010 and the full withdrawal in December 2011, over 50,000 US servicemen, referred to as a "transitional force," were "training, equipping and advising Iraqi Security Forces.” President Barack Obama had discussed with Iraqi officials the possibility of extending the stay of “transitional” troops in Iraq, but they virtually kicked the US troops out of the country. 

Although the army troops were withdrawn, several thousand contractors have reportedly taken over their peacekeeping mission. Besides that, the US is still operating its controversial fleet of drones over Iraq’s territory and, according to the State Department, the military is not planning to scrap its drone surveillance program for at least another five years.

Comments (49)

georgio (unregistered) 27.11.2012 10:04

Tomek (unregistered) wrote in #5
"The US promised" - good joke
Yeah, right...and ther's a Santa Claus too!!!! Give me a FK'n break already!!

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Hell Fire (unregistered) 07.07.2012 20:34

This is no withdrawal, it can however be called transition to a new phase. First phase was "Shock and Awe" in which Afghans were ruthlessly killed by B-52s. Second phase was "Winning hearts and minds" in which remaining but terrified Afghans were told about their options. Third phase was to setup a puppet regime mainly of warlords who helped Americans attack and invade Afghanistan. Imagine how terrible those warlords must be who helped a foreign power to invade and bomb their own country. Is it any wonder then that these warlords are corrupt too and deal with narcotics? Perhaps this is their least of crimes. America is propping up terror groups to attack Iran, Pakistan and China with the help of these warlords. It is not Taliban that are responsible for bomb blasts in markets, trains, busses, etc. It is these warlords who are on American payroll from day one. Name of Taliban is used to discredit and demoralize Taliban by associating them with such heinous crimes, even though it is true that Taliban have committed crimes in the past but not every crime that is associated to them.

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ari (unregistered) 07.07.2012 11:07

Washington is creating another Vietnam in Afghanistan.  Mr Karzai will be just another General/President Thieu who became a taxi driver in new York after the fall of Saigon.  Mr Karzai - that corrupt snake is unlikely to do any  better.  The Muslim population in Afghanistans including the Talibans, will push Mr Karzai, his dispirited soldiers and American troop out of Kabul and Afghanistan.  Can Washington believes it can suppress the sovereignty of tribes and nationalities through sheer military means?


I am afraid Obama and Washinton are due for myriad Vietnamese quagmires all over the world in their strategic pursuit to control world energy supplies to achieve the economic stranglehold over China they seek, by trying to control every energy & commodities-rich countries on this planet via the installation of either non democratically elected governments, or appointment of dictatorial, autocratic false democratic puppet governments.


I fear Washington is embarked on a no-win strategy which does nothing but cause hardship, death, misery, and suffering for human beings on this planet.  After Afghanistan, who next?  Iran?  N Korea?  Pakistan?  Syria?


Ho w many more "Vietnams"?  How many more violations of human rights abuse on a  massive global scale?  How long does Washington think its mass medias can manipulate and control global public opinion while it continues its orgy of murders, killings, bombings, shooting, and missile strikes of human beings all over the world?

 
What does it intend to do if China fights to protect its territories against cads and hounds encouraged to jump claim land with the connivance of Washington? 


Why is Washington pursuing such unrealistic goals and objectives. China and Chinese are a fact, a reality on this planet. The fate of this planet can either be peace or war.  Global domination by China is not a fact, a reality nor destiny.  Rather, Washington is just being dishonest with itself, its people, and the people of the world.  Are we all to pay for Washington's dishonesty?  There is nothing superior about a culture or civilization built on a foundation of massive ago and misplaced pride.


Am ericans need to do somethng about thei misrule by a broken Washington and the crass abuse of American great power.  With great power comes great responsibility.  America is failing to live up to this dictum.


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