WORLD / MID-EAST
All Central Asia stakeholders expect ‘responsible’ US army’s withdrawal
Published: Jul 11, 2021 05:41 PM
Photo taken on July 8, 2021 shows a military vehicle abandoned by U.S. forces at the Bagram Airfield base after all U.S. and NATO forces evacuated in Parwan province, eastern Afghanistan. Photo:Xinhua

Photo taken on July 8, 2021 shows a military vehicle abandoned by U.S. forces at the Bagram Airfield base after all U.S. and NATO forces evacuated in Parwan province, eastern Afghanistan. Photo:Xinhua



All regional stakeholders expected a "responsible withdrawal" of the US forces from Afghanistan, chief of Pakistani military's media wing said on Saturday.

"The responsible withdrawal was supposed to be after a peaceful transition, but the withdrawal happened in a bit hasty manner," director general of the Inter-Services Public Relations Major General Babar Iftikhar told a local news channel.

The US army is in the process of leaving Afghanistan and the withdrawal is expected to be completed by August 31, following which all regional stakeholders have to sit together and find a solution to the Afghan issue in consultation with the Afghan leadership, he added.

The official said regional powers are "very well capable of solving Afghan issue if we sit down together," and there is no need for the US.

Talking about his country's role to solve the Afghan issue, Iftikhar said that Pakistan tried to help solve the Afghan issue sincerely and it did everything within its capacity to facilitate the peace process. "Afghan peace process has many aspects where it should be understood that Pakistan was only a facilitator and not a guarantor in the process ... we needed to understand that it would be Afghans' own decision and would not be dictated by any foreign party," he added.

The official said Pakistan has no favorites among Afghan stakeholders, and the decisions are to be taken by the Afghans. "Afghans have the capacity and capability to decide their future course themselves."

The official said that Pak-Afghan border security and management has been beefed up and the 2,611-kilometer border has been 90 percent fenced whereas the remaining areas are either at high altitude or in glaciated places.