KABUL - The Ministry of Defense (MoD) on Sunday said that the establishment of U.S military bases in Afghanistan will help determine an effective campaign against threats emerging from the Taliban and other terrorist groups.
Joining the defense ministry, some Afghan political commentators have also hailed U.S military presence in Afghanistan as a key element in thwarting threats and curbing foreign meddling.
They argue that foreign intervention in Afghanistan has dropped to some extent after the signing of the Bilateral Security Agreement (BSA) between Afghanistan and the United States.
"The al-Qaeda, Taliban and Daesh groups operate here, they (U.S) forces can target them from these bases and help us in providing equipment and funding," a defense ministry spokesman Dawlat Waziri said.
It is said that the US forces so far have directed several missions in which dozens of top insurgent commanders had been killed.
"For the first time, the Americans showed they are committed to Afghanistan's stability and longstanding security including support to Afghanistan's political process and the government and these are part of the U.S mission, the killing of Mullah Mansour is one of the new initiatives of the U.S," political analyst Haroon Mir said.
In line with the BSA, the U.S has committed to defend Afghanistan's territorial integrity and national sovereignty against external threats and to foil foreign interference in the nation's internal affairs.
"These bases can protect the U.S's long term interests in the region and it is in our interests as well. If we do not have major and credible support, we will be eliminated in regional games," political analyst Nasrallah Stanekzai said.
It is believed the killing of the Taliban's former leader Mullah Akhtar Mansour inside Pakistani territory signaled a shift in U.S's counter-terrorism policy.
It appears that the U.S is fighting back to repress militants inside Afghanistan and beyond, something predicted in the BSA, said analaysts.
This comes after the U.S Congress's committee on military affairs passed a new law on the basis of which the U.S forces are granted special powers to target the Taliban, Daesh and Haqqani network in Afghanistan.
The new law has defined some additional authorities to U.S forces and says that the American troops must be provided with more resources and that 9,800 U.S troops will stay in Afghanistan until April 2017. (Tolonews)