Pakistan against abrupt US pullout from Afghanistan- Senior Diplomat
Moscow/Sputnik/UNI Pakistan fears that a quick pullout of all US forces from Afghanistan would cause instability to trickle over the border and trigger a refugee crisis in neighboring countries, Pakistani Additional Foreign Secretary Muhemmed Aejaz told Sputnik.
The US military has been reportedly working on a contingency plan for an abrupt pullout from Afghanistan after President Donald Trump ordered all troops withdrawn from Syria as part of his 2020 campaign pledge to end foreign wars.
"Looking back at the experience of the 1990s when a sudden US withdrawal created a huge security vacuum, it led to some very unfortunate consequences for Afghanistan and for Pakistan because whenever there is instability in Afghanistan, naturally, it trickles down to Pakistan … So our very clear position is that we do not support a sudden withdrawal or abrupt withdrawal. We would like the withdrawal to be phased out in a very timely manner," Aejaz said in an interview.
He argued that Pakistan would suffer the most should the United States pull all its troops from Afghanistan overnight. The withdrawal was part of a deal that the United States was negotiating with the Taliban, before their talks broke off in September.
"I think this issue itself relates to the very fundamental discussions between US and Taliban. They are the ones who ultimately have to agree. But our stated position is that a sudden withdrawal is certainly not what we," the Pakistani diplomat said.
The US has around 14,000 troops stationed in Afghanistan as part of an assistance and training mission. Trump said at the height of the talks with the Taliban that force could be downsized to 8,600 in the event of a deal with the militants.
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