By Shadi Khan Saif
KABUL
U.S. President Barack Obama authorizes a greater-than-previously-announced role for American troops in fighting in conflict-ridden Afghanistan, some security analysts in the country believe the announcement might have more negative impacts than positive ones.
According to the New York Times, Obama has broadened the role of the U.S. military in Afghanistan for the year 2015, in a shift from prior public declarations.
Gen. Atiqullah Amarkhail, former Afghan military commander told The Anadolu Agency that militants were already exploiting the rhetoric of "foreign boots" on Afghan soil as a reason to keep on fighting. The latest announcement just fuels this type of propaganda, says Amarkhail.
“Keeping military bases and soldiers in Afghanistan obviously meant fighting the militants when and if needed. Why is there a need to blow such words that give an excuse to militants here and those mullahs preaching militancy in Pakistan," Amarkhail said in a clear reference to leading Pakistani religious and political leader Fazal Rehamn’s recent statement endorsing the Taliban insurgency.
Former Afghan spy Chief Gen. Abdul Wahid Taqat told The Anadolu Agency that the fact that the new Afghan president, Ashraf Ghani, had signed a Bilateral Security Agreement with the U.S. within a week of taking charge meant the two sides were bracing for closer ties than in the past.
The New York Times has quoted senior Afghan officials in recent weeks saying that both President Ghani and his new national security adviser, Hanif Atmar, had requested that the United States continue to fight Taliban forces in 2015.
Kabul has not rejected this claim.
www.aa.com.tr/en
