KABUL - Pakistan has granted the US military overflight rights to support America’s presence in Afghanistan, says a senior Pentagon official.
The US would continue talks with Pakistan given the important role it had played in advancing the peace process in Afghanistan, the assistant secretary of defence said.
David F Helvey informed members of the Senate Armed Services Committee: “We’ll continue conversations with Pakistan because their contribution to the future of peace in Afghanistan is going to be critical.”
India Today quoted Senator Jack Reed, chairman of the Senate panel, as saying that President Joe Biden’s decision on troop withdrawal should be seen as a transition, not closure.
He said: “It should not mean an end to our counterterrorism effort. We must ensure that Afghanistan will not be a source of planning, plotting or projecting of terrorist attacks around the globe, including particularly against our homeland.”
The panel chairman believed despite Afghanistan’s great progress over the last 20 years, threats from Al-Qaeda, ISIS and other terrorist groups still remained.
Senator James M Inhofe of the Republican Party said he and his party were averse to the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan at this point in time.
He saw a risk of chaos, violence and instability in Afghanistan as the Taliban used the American pullout to escalate attacks around the country.
The exit would make it much harder and more expensive for the US to effectively support the Afghan security partners, the lawmaker argued. (Pajhwok)