Security transition in Afghanistan ‘has not gone smoothly’: US activist
US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter’s visit to Afghanistan indicates that the security transition from the US and NATO militaries to the Afghan forces “has not gone smoothly,” an anti-war activist in Chicago says.
Carter arrived in Kabul in an unannounced visit to meet with Afghan officials. It marks his first overseas trip since taking over the Pentagon this week.
He used his first visit to Afghanistan as the defense secretary to offer the clearest sign yet that the United States is looking to delay the closure of some military bases and withdrawal of all American forces from the country by January 2017.
US President Barack Obama “is considering a number of options to reinforce our support for President [Ashraf] Ghani’s security strategy, including possible changes to the timeline for our drawdown of US troops,” Carter said after talks with Afghan leaders.
The Pentagon chief’s visit to Afghanistan points to a possible anticipation that a fresh offensive by the Taliban militant group is underway, said Rick Rozoff, a member of Stop NATO International.
“It could also be that the military transition from the US and NATO to the Afghan national army and other Afghan security forces has not gone as smoothly as anticipated,” Rozoff said during a phone interview with Press TV on Saturday.
“There’s concern that fighting may intensify in the country” and that “US assurances that everything is going all right in Afghanistan maybe false assurances,” he added.
Despite the official end to the combat mission, the US has escalated a “secret war” in Afghanistan, according to a recent report.
Washington has significantly stepped up night raids in Afghanistan since October, when American and Afghan commandos found a laptop computer with files allegedly detailing planned terrorist attacks in Afghanistan and neighboring Pakistan, The New York Times reported last week.
The US invaded Afghanistan in 2001 as part of Washington’s so-called war on terror. However, it has failed to root out the Taliban in a war which has claimed over 2,300 Americans lives.
AHT/HRJ
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