President Ashraf Ghani met the commander of NATO’s Resolute Support Mission and US forces in Afghanistan, Gen. John F. Campbell and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey on Sunday July 19,2015. During the meeting President Ghani suggested a regional counterterrorism effort with the support of US.
According to a statement by Gen. Campbell, “Afghan counterterrorism forces are among the best in the region but they still need training and equipment… He (President Ghani) wants to continue to build that capability and knows that he needs our help to do that.”
Gen. Campbell mentioned that Ghani is also reaching out to other regional players including China, Russia, Iran, Pakistan, India and the United States, Campbell said. His message is that terrorism is a regional threat and it needs to be fought on a regional basis. General also said, “He is saying to them, ‘Afghanistan is fighting your fight.’”
There is no doubt in the fact that Afghanistan would require regional support so as to eradicate terrorism effectively. Without a regional effort, there can be only temporary solutions to the problems of growing terrorism; it can be tamed for the time being but cannot be fully rooted out unless the countries in the region hold one another’s hands in unity and stand strong against it.
At the same time the support and influence of the US would further strengthen the process. It is imperative that US must not leave Afghanistan alone at this crucial juncture wherein the security situation in the country is deteriorating and the country is looking at the regional countries and international community for support.
It is also essential that US should support Afghanistan in its fight against the growing threats of Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL) – Daesh. Daesh is spreading in the country like a wild fire and only in few months it has been able to become operational in some of the provinces of the country.
General Campbell talking about Daesh said that its appearance in Afghanistan is worrisome and puts a new wrinkle of his deliberations as the terror group has attracted some violent and vicious adherents since it first appeared last year… We first started hearing about ISIL, and in the last six or seven months, there is a drumbeat that has continued to grow… The areas of concern are in Nangahar, Farah, and northern Helmand and Daesh adherents are battling the Taliban in Nangahar… We had earlier said the ISIL (Daesh) threat was nascent, but now I would say it is probably operationally emergent and President Ghani believes it is a potential threat to Afghanistan; he knows [Daesh] has the ability to move very quickly, and he wants to make sure he’s putting systems and processes in place to build his capability.
It is agreed almost by all the stakeholders in the country that the threat of Daesh must be taken seriously but the crying need of time is to launch practical measures to stop it from becoming another giant that would threaten the people of Afghanistan.
On the other hand, US must also support Afghanistan in their fight or negotiations with Taliban. Though there are very optimistic talks about peace process with Taliban, Afghan government representatives met Taliban representatives formally for the first time in Pakistan, and Taliban leader Mullah Omar has also indicated that there is no Islamic prohibition against negotiating with enemy and peace is the best path forward for Afghanistan, even then real agreement is yet to come. Still there is a long process before a lasting peace could be maintained.
General Campbell is also optimistic about the reconciliation and believes that about 60 to 70 percent of those who adhere to Taliban groups probably will reconcile with the Afghan government. “Thirty to 40 percent are not reconcilable, including the Haqqani network,” he said. “So what happens if the Taliban starts reconciling? Do these other guys go over to [Daesh]? That’s an issue.”
He, however, concluded that Taliban are not going to take over Afghanitan, nor will Daesh. “They are not an existential threat to Afghanistan at this point,” he said. “Could they become that down the road? I don’t know.”
It is an important issue that has to be taken care of. If some sections of Taliban do not agree with the negotiations and join Daesh, it would be really difficult to defeat Daesh. Therefore, Afghanistan would require the support of US and require their forces to be present in some way or other so that they are able to guard against this threat.
Currently around 9,800 US service members are in Afghanistan. The actual plan was to reduce it to 5,500 this year but President Ghani Plans originally called for a reduction to 5,500 earlier this year, but Ghani appealed to President Barack Obama to maintain the level of troops through the fighting season – the first with Afghan National Security Forces totally in the lead. Obama agreed, and he asked Gen. Campbell to reassess the situation at the end of the fighting season. Gen. Campbell, therefore, said, “We’re looking at the state of the national unity government and the state of the Afghan security forces then we have to look at the state of the insurgency.”
It is not yet confirmed what will be the decision by US but it is confirmed that if Afghanistan is left alone at this juncture, there would be severe consequences that the whole world will have to deal with.