Removal of restrictions: US will lose more troops, resources, warn Taliban

Insurgent group issues statement in response to broadening of American forces’ role in Afghanistan

ISLAMABAD: The Afghan Taliban on Saturday warned US President Barack Obama that his decision to remove some restrictions on American forces in Afghanistan will result in more American casualties and waste of its resources.

President Obama has decided to give broader authority to US military commanders to “anticipate situations in which the Afghan security forces would benefit from our support”.

In a Pashto-language statement released on Saturday, the Taliban condemned the extension of US troops’ presence in Afghanistan, and said, “The US cannot win this war even if it prolongs it for 100 years.”

“The Afghan nation firmly resisted all kinds of American force for the past 15 years. We will neither step back nor face failure and will never give up our armed resistance,” the statement said.

“Your [American] trained Afghan intelligence, police and army officials suffer causalities daily. They abandon their posts during battle and flee,” the Taliban statement said. “Since they [Afghan forces] have failed, they are now begging you [the US] to fight alongside them,” it added.

The Taliban said President Obama’s move will bear the same results as his decision to increase US troop presence in 2010. “That decision was misplaced and you lost everything you expected to achieve,” the statement said.

Olson meets Abdullah

After Pakistan’s army chief pushed a high-level delegation of the American military officials and diplomats to target the Pakistani Taliban in Afghanistan, US Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Olson arrived in Kabul on Saturday to apprise Afghan leaders of his discussions in Islamabad.

Olson met Afghanistan’s Chief Executive Dr Abdullah Abdullah who, according to a statement released by his office, said Kabul made all efforts to seek Pakistan’s help to promote the Afghan peace process.

“Unfortunately, Pakistan did not honour its commitments and even the Taliban leader was killed on Pakistani soil,” the statement issued by Abdullah’s office quoted him as saying.

“The Afghan government and people want Pakistan to take action against the Taliban and the Haqqani Network to ensure peace in the region and the world,” the Afghan leader added.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 12^th, 2016.