Afghan endgame: US withdraws military equipment via Pakistan

[Devil Soul]

Top general says US to assess Afghan troop level after summer
WASHINGTON - The US commander of international forces in Afghanistan on Tuesday said he would make a recommendation of how many American troops should remain in Afghanistan after he saw how well Afghan security handled the summer fighting season.

"We need to see how the Afghans do in their first summer in the lead, and make an assessment in November 2013," Marine Corps General Joseph Dunford told a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing.

He said other variables such as the state of the enemy and Afghanistan's political transition would also inform his decision.

Dunford stressed repeatedly that the US could not make a troop commitment until it had signed a bilateral security agreement with the Afghan government. Washington and Kabul had been negotiating such a pact, which would address the relationship of the two countries for years to come. - See more at: Top general says US to assess Afghan troop level after summer | Pakistan Today | Latest news | Breaking news | Pakistan News | World news | Business | Sport and Multimedia

 

[Devil Soul]

Pakistan for collective efforts to ensure peace in Afghanistan post-withdrawal
By APP Published: April 19, 2013
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Friday urged all concerned stakeholders, including the United States, to devote their energies towards making Afghanistan peaceful, progressive, prosperous and stable country in the post-withdrawal period.

Foreign office spokesperson Aizaz Chaudhry in his weekly briefing said “Pakistan is in contact with all concerned on the issue of peaceful Afghanistan in the post-withdrawal period and monitoring the evolving situation.”

While responding to the allegations by Kabul about Pakistan’s alleged involvement in terrorist activities inside Afghanistan, Chaudhry said that “Pakistan does not believe in allegations and counter allegations.”

“We are convinced that peace, stability and reconciliation in Afghanistan is in Pakistan’s own interest.”

The spokesperson further said that Pakistan will facilitate the peace process in Afghanistan in every possible manner.

Replying to a question he said there were some issues between Pakistan and Afghanistan including that of border management and that military authorities on both sides had contacts to resolve it.

Answering another question, he said the Pakistan-US relationship is heading on a positive trajectory. “We are collaborating with United States in different fields and the two countries are in constant interaction.”

Pakistan-India dialogue
Chaudhry said that composite dialogue between Pakistan and India is continuing. He said that two rounds have been completed and the third round of dialogue process between Pakistan and India is underway.

He hoped that dates for talks on different segments of the composite dialogue would be sorted out soon.

 

[Devil Soul]

Afghanistan, Pakistan, US to meet for talks in Brussels
By Reuters Published: April 22, 2013
KABUL: US Secretary of State John Kerry will host talks between Afghan President Hamid Karzai and senior Pakistan officials in Brussels on Wednesday, officials said, with the aim of calming tension over border disputes and a flagging peace process.
The meeting is part of a series of on-off discussions between Afghanistan and Pakistan at the behest of the United States, a senior State Department official said on Monday, confirming that Kerry had offered to host the gathering.
Afghanistan has grown increasingly frustrated with Pakistan over efforts to pursue a peace process involving the Taliban, suggesting that Islamabad is intent on keep Afghanistan unstable until after foreign combat forces have left at the end of 2014.
Kerry said the meeting would discuss the handover of security responsibility to Afghan forces this year, a move intended to allow for the end of Nato-led combat operations.
“This is the year of transition. This is the critical year in Afghanistan,” he told US diplomats in Brussels.
“We are going to have a trilateral and try to talk about how we can advance this process in the simplest, most cooperative and most cogent way, so that we wind up with both Pakistan’s and Afghanistan’s interests being satisfied, but, most importantly, with a stable and peaceful Afghanistan which is worth the expenditure and the treasure and effort of these last years.”
US officials are hopeful that Kerry, who has a good relationship with Karzai, can bring the parties back to the negotiating table and make constructive progress on an issue that has long-term security implications for Washington.
An Afghan spokesperson said earlier that Karzai would travel to Brussels for the talks, which follow weeks of tension with Pakistan over their 2,600km border and stalled peace efforts.
“Our message to Pakistan is enough is enough,” Karzai’s spokesperson, Aimal Faizi, said in Kabul. “This time we will tell Pakistan that our people’s patience is running out and we can’t wait for Pakistan to deliver on Afghan peace promises.”
Troop withdrawal
Last month, Afghanistan’s deputy foreign minister called Pakistan “complacent” when it came to the nascent peace efforts and said it was ready to work on reconciliation with Taliban groups without Pakistan’s help if necessary.
A public slanging match ensued, with the Pakistani Foreign Ministry accusing Karzai of being an “impediment” to the peace process.
Although there have been several meetings in Western capitals over the past few months in which representatives of the Taliban have met Afghan peace negotiators, there have been no signs of a breakthrough.
Kabul accuses Pakistan of harbouring the Taliban leadership in the city of Quetta and using militants as proxies to counter the influence of India in Afghanistan.
Publicly, the Taliban say they will not engage in peace talks with the Karzai government.
As well as Karzai and Kerry, the meeting will include Afghanistan’s defence minister, Bismillah Khan Mohammadi, Pakistan’s army chief, General Ashfaq Kayani, and Pakistan’s foreign secretary, Jalil Jilani, the US official said.
The talks will take place the day after a meeting on Tuesday of Nato foreign ministers in Brussels, which Kerry will attend. That meeting will discuss the process of transition and the shift in the role of foreign troops from combat to training, advising and assisting Afghan forces.
Nato ministers agreed in February that they would think in terms of no more than 8,000-12,000 Nato troops remaining in the country after 2014 compared with about 100,000 now.
The United States had yet to decide how many troops it will keep in the country and US officials say much will depend on negotiations between the United States and Afghanistan on the legal status of those troops.
Karzai’s spokesperson said hopes for a breakthrough at Wednesday’s talks were slim. “Discussions have been warm and friendly in the past but Pakistan unfortunately did not take any practical steps,” Faizi said.
Earlier this month there was outrage in Afghanistan over the building of a Pakistani military outpost in a border area of Nangarhar province which the Afghan Defence Ministry says was inside Afghan territory.

 

[Devil Soul]

Kerry names former US diplomat as new Af-Pak envoy
By Reuters Published: May 4, 2013
WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State John Kerry has appointed veteran US diplomat James Dobbins as Washington’s new special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, State Department spokesperson Patrick Ventrell said on Friday.
Dobbins, head of international security and defense at the RAND National Defense Research Institute and a former senior US diplomat, will replace Marc Grossman as special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Dobbins represented the United States at the Bonn Conference that established the new Afghan government in December 2001, shortly after US-led forces invaded Afghanistan and ousted the Taliban, and in the same month raised the flag over the reopened US Embassy in Kabul.
Grossman had replaced the late Richard Holbrooke in the post. Holbrooke died suddenly in December 2010.
Ventrell said that Kerry spoke with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari to inform them of the appointment earlier on Friday.
Dobbins is taking on a challenging post.
The Afghan government has grown increasingly frustrated with Pakistan, suggesting its neighbour is intent on keeping Afghanistan unstable rather than helping to engage the Taliban in peace talks.
The appointment of Dobbins comes as the United States is encouraging Pakistan to help Afghanistan to coax the Taliban to the negotiating table ahead of the withdrawal of most NATO combat troops by the end of 2014.
There is also the sensitive question of US drone strikes.
Civilian casualties from drone strikes have angered local populations and created tension between the United States and Pakistan and Afghanistan. Washington has sought to portray civilian casualties as minimal, but groups collecting data on these attacks say they have killed hundreds of civilians.

 

[Devil Soul]

Pak-Afghan ties: Envoy denies Pakistan seeking ‘strategic depth’
KABUL: Pakistan denies that it is seeking ‘strategic depth’ in Afghanistan. “Afghanistan doesn’t offer strategic depth rather it can turn out to be a strategic graveyard for any foreign country,” Muhammad Sadiq, Pakistan’s ambassador in Kabul, told a group of visiting Pakistani journalists.
He said Islamabad was not pursuing the strategic depth policy. Given the geographic location and the nature of its people, Afghanistan cannot offer strategic depth to any country, particularly to Pakistan, he added.

Ambassador Sadiq, a career diplomat who has been serving as Pakistan’s top envoy in Kabul for the last four years, said that the Afghan people always had misperception about Pakistan. “This misperception is created by a handful of Afghan elites,” he added.
Border issues
On the recent border tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan over some check posts, Ambassador Sadiq said the posts on which Afghan forces claim their ownership were constructed by the Pakistani forces in 2002 and 2003. Nato officials had also visited these posts, he added.
Referring to the conflicting claims of Kabul, Ambassador Sadiq said that on the one hand, they call for stopping cross-border infiltration, while on the other hand they demand demolition of Pakistani border posts. The biggest problem of the Afghan side is that they comment on issues without knowing the ground realities, he added.
The ambassador said both the countries should have control over the border and there should be free movement across the border, particularly for the poor Afghan. However, he added that Pakistan should support Afghan people as much as they want and any extra support should be stopped as it creates suspicions among them.
Anti-Pakistan sentiment
About the anti-Pakistan sentiment in Afghanistan, Ambassador Sadiq said it was not a new thing and such sentiments date from the 1947 partition. “Afghanistan was one of the countries which had not recognised Pakistan when it was created,” he reminded.
Good friendly relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan are in the interest of the two countries, but some Afghan elites always try to derail the relations.
The ambassador said that Pakistan has stopped playing favourites in Afghan politics and now it pursues a balanced policy as the policy of favouritism often invites animosity from certain groups in the neighbouring country.
Ambassador Sadiq said Islamabad has to recognise every government in Kabul, be it the Taliban regime in the 1990s or the present Karzai regime and this policy will continue in the future. “The relationship between Pakistan and Afghanistan is overlapping and everything is interrelated,” he added.
Talks with Taliban
On the Afghan reconciliation process, Ambassador Sadiq said the position taken by Pakistan 10 years back to bring the Taliban to the negotiating table was being adopted now by the Afghan government and international community.
“We had suggested inviting the Taliban to the first Bonn conference on Afghanistan. And now every country supports reconciliation, but it is too late to be fruitful after so much bloodshed in this country,” said Sadiq.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 6th, 2013.

 

[Devil Soul]

US could keep 9 Afghanistan bases: Karzai
May 09, 2013 - Updated 1534 PKT
From Web Edition
KABUL: Afghan President Hamid Karzai said Thursday that he could allow the United States to keep nine military bases in the country as part of negotiations over a long-term security pact with Washington.

After more than 11 years of US-led military intervention in Afghanistan, the two countries are hammering out a deal to allow a limited US troop presence to remain when the international coalition leaves next year.

The size of the "residual" force has not been agreed, with numbers ranging from 2,500 to 12,000, according to US officials, as Washington winds down a war that has become deeply unpopular at home.

Soldiers kept in Afghanistan would target Al-Qaeda militants and help train the local army and police -- but a hasty withdrawal could also threaten fragile gains secured since the Taliban were ousted in 2001.

"We are in very serious and delicate negotiations with America," Karzai said. "America has got its demands, Afghanistan too has its own demands, and its own interests... They want nine bases across Afghanistan."

Karzai said he would allow bases in Kabul, Bagram, Mazar-i-Sharif, Jalalabad, Gardez, Kandahar, Helmand, Shindand and Herat if Afghanistan's security and economic conditions were met.

There was no immediate reaction from the US government.

"We agree to give you the bases. We see their staying in Afghanistan beyond 2014 in the interests of Afghanistan as well as NATO," Karzai said.

"Our conditions are that the US intensify efforts in the peace process, strengthen Afghanistan's security forces, provide concrete support to the economy -- power, roads and dams -- and provide assistance in governance.

"If these are met, we are ready to sign the security pact," Karzai told his audience during a speech at Kabul University.

US officials have reportedly said that if 6,000 troops were kept in Afghanistan after 2014, only two bases, in the capital Kabul and at Bagram airfield, would be maintained.

Relations between the US and Afghanistan have been rocky this year as a transition phase begins with 100,000 NATO coalition troops pulling back from the fight against the Taliban.

Afghan security forces are taking over responsibility, but doubts remain whether they will be able to control insurgent violence that increasingly focuses on local soldiers and government officials.

Karzai caused outrage in Washington in March when he accused the US of colluding with the Taliban to justify its presence in Afghanistan, and he has also regularly criticised US forces over their treatment of civilians.

The US has avoided revealing its plans in Afghanistan after 2014 and Karzai's claim that a total of nine US bases may be kept open will intensify pressure on President Barack Obama.

Immunity from Afghan law for the remaining US troops is likely to be a key demand from Obama, and Karzai has said the issue may have to be decided by a gathering of tribal elders.

Waheed Wafa, analyst and director of the Afghanistan Center at Kabul University, said the president -- who is due to step down next year -- was testing public and regional opinion on the future US troop presence.

"Previously he said the US wants bases, now he gives this figure (of nine bases) and later he may give more details to see the reaction," Wafa said. "He is also keen to judge the response of Pakistan and Iran." (AFP)

 

[Devil Soul]

Up to 12000 US troops may stay in Afghanistan

May 18, 2013, 2:02 pm NNI

The United States may keep a force of 6,000 to 12,000 troops in Afghanistan after 2014, when Afghan forces will be responsible for security across the country, a top American Senator has said.

“We are planning to keep a force of perhaps 6,000 to 12,000 after 2014 when all combat forces are to be out of Afghanistan,”

Senator Carl Levin, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said during a Congressional hearing.

A final decision in this regard is to be taken by President Barack Obama. He has not taken any decision so far.

“Almost 12 years later now, the war in Afghanistan is winding down as we prepare to hand over security responsibility to Afghan forces, and it appears that that country no longer serves as a safe haven for al-Qaida attacks against the US,” Levin said.

“Osama bin Laden is dead, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is in captivity, the ranks of al-Qaida leaders who planned and carried out the September 11 attacks have been severely degraded,” he added.

Levin said the US continues to hold detainees at Guantanamo Bay and the Bagram base in Afghanistan. America’s fight against al-Qaida continued not only in Afghanistan, but also in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia, he concluded.
Up to 12000 US troops may stay in Afghanistan

 

[Amaa'n]

I made a short clip while i was on my way to my village, they had one humvee and one IED proof M-RAP ; Man that thing was huge, i will try to upload the video or take snaps out of it,

 

[Devil Soul]

Afghanistan withdrawal: Kayani for army, Nato coordination
RAWALPINDI: Chairman of Nato Military Committee, General Knud Bartels called on Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani at General Headquarters in Rawalpindi on Tuesday, Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) reported in a press release.
The two met to discuss matters of mutual interest, particularly the security situation in Afghanistan. The need to maintain coordination between Nato and Pakistan Army was also discussed.
Gen. Knud was briefed on how Pakistan has heavily contributed to the war on terrorism and how countless sacrifices have been rendered by the nation to counter extremism.
Bringing his visit to a close, Gen. Knud attended a wreath laying ceremony at Shuhada Monument. A guard of honour was presented to him by a Pakistan Army contingent, ISPR reported.
Afghanistan withdrawal: Kayani for army, Nato coordination – The Express Tribune

 

[Devil Soul]

Afghan withdrawal discussed with Nato
Published
29th May, 2013, 7:44 AM
ISLAMABAD: Nato Military Committee Chairman Gen Knud Bartels met Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee Chairman Gen Khalid Shameem Wynne and Chief of Army Staff Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani on Tuesday to discuss withdrawal of coalition forces from Afghanistan and the post-2014 Pakistan-Nato relationship.

According to the ISPR, Gen Bartels discussed during the meetings the security situation in Afghanistan, coordination measures between Nato and the Pakistan Army and the post-2014 situation.

Pakistan is one of Nato’s eight “partners across the globe” — a phrase used to describe the countries with which the transatlantic alliance seeks to develop security cooperation outside its usual partnership frameworks.

“Pakistan is an important partner for Nato. I look forward to working with Pakistan’s new leaders in their efforts to achieve long-term peace and stability in Pakistan and the region,” Nato Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen had said in a statement about the May 11 elections.

Pakistan and Nato have discussed signing a joint declaration to formalise their relationship. However, there has been little progress because of tense Pakistan-US ties.
Afghan withdrawal discussed with Nato - DAWN.COM

 

[Hawaii's Finest]

Why do you think Nato doesn't like Pakistan?

 

[Ayush]

Why do you think Nato doesn't like Pakistan?

coz they feel pak is an unreliable ally..

 

[Jungibaaz]

Why do you think Nato doesn't like Pakistan?

Because after 12 years of a go-nowhere failed war.
They need someone to blame.

So the dumb, foolish commoners, like yourself, eat that right up.
And you'll be ready to support another war very soon.

 

[Hawaii's Finest]

OMG seriously? What should they do after 911? It's the Jews that did though right LOL?

 

[Cyberian]

Why do you think Nato doesn't like Pakistan?

Because Pakistan is a Muslim country and armed with nuclear weapons.

What irked them the most in the 1970s and 1980s was that a non-white, dirt poor, impoverished, third world country had the scientific capability to make nuclear weapons without their help and without their permission. At the same time Pakistani nuclear program was pursued so aggressively despite the Muslim nation was dismembered a few years in 1971.

You have remember, back then racism played a big role in their societies.