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Pakistan: No More Military Bases for US Afghan Mission

Ayaz Gul

   ISLAMABAD - Pakistan ruled out Tuesday the possibility of again
   providing its military bases to the United States for future
   counterterrorism operations in Afghanistan after U.S. troops leave the
   conflict-torn neighbor by September 11.
   Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi made the remarks to reporters in
   Islamabad, explaining that his government has adopted a policy that
   allows it to become "only partners in peace" and not join any future
   U.S. war.
   "No sir, we do not intend to allow boots on the ground and no [U.S.]
   bases are being transferred to Pakistan," Qureshi said when asked
   whether his government is under pressure to give military bases to the
   U.S.
   President Joe Biden's administration has acknowledged it is in talks
   with several Central Asian neighbors of Afghanistan to examine where it
   can reposition troops to prevent the landlocked country from once again
   becoming a terrorist base for groups like al-Qaida.
   But U.S. officials have not named Pakistan, which shares a nearly
   2,600-kilometers border with Afghanistan, nor have they commented on
   media speculation that the subject of bases might be under bilateral
   discussions.
   Qureshi noted that Pakistan has also been consistently using its
   leverage over the Taliban, who have been waging a deadly insurgency
   against the U.S.-backed Afghan government, to encourage them to stop
   their violent campaign and negotiate a political settlement with Afghan
   rivals.
   The foreign minister said "we feel" the Taliban's engagement in the
   Afghan peace process would bring and enhance the "international
   respectability and recognition" that the group required.
   "If they want to be acceptable, if they want delisting to take place,
   if they want recognition then engagement, giving up violence and
   looking for a political solution is in their political interest," he
   said.
   Qureshi referred to the Taliban's demand for the United Nations and the
   U.S. to delist top insurgent leaders from their sanctions lists.
   FILE - Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi speaks at a
   meeting in Islamabad, Pakistan, April 7, 2021.

   The chief Pakistani diplomat hailed as a positive development the
   Taliban's declaration of a three-day cease-fire during this week's Eid
   festival in Afghanistan. The Kabul government has responded by ordering
   Afghan forces to halt all offensive operations against the insurgents
   during the three-day festivities beginning Thursday.
   Pakistan has long been accused of harboring Taliban leaders, but in
   recent years, Washington and other Western powers have hailed
   Islamabad's efforts in bringing the insurgents to the negotiating table
   with U.S. interlocutors and subsequently with rival Afghan groups.
   The commander of U.S. forces in the Middle East and parts of South Asia
   warned during recent congressional testimony that Washington would face
   substantial challenges to track new or growing terrorist threats once
   the military completes the planned Afghan withdrawal.
   "We're examining this problem with all of our resources right now to
   find a way to do it in the most intelligent, risk-free manner that we
   can," said General Kenneth "Frank" McKenzie. "It's going to be
   extremely difficult."
   Pakistani military bases and ground and air lines of communication
   played a vital role in facilitating and sustaining the U.S.-led
   military invasion of Afghanistan 20 years ago.
   The punitive military action was undertaken to oust the Islamist
   Taliban from power days after the September 11, 2001, strikes on the
   U.S. that were plotted by al-Qaida leaders from Taliban-ruled
   Afghanistan at the time.
   Pakistan has long retaken control of its bases, though its airspace and
   land routes are still being used to ferry nonlethal military supplies
   for international forces across the Afghan border and facilitating the
   ongoing U.S. troop drawdown process.
   The ongoing drawdown of the last remaining around 2,500. U.S. and
   roughly 7,000 NATO troops from Afghanistan is the outcome of
   Washington's peace-building agreement it signed with the Taliban in
   February 2020 to close what has become America's longest war.
   The landmark deal encouraged the Taliban to open peace talks with
   Afghan government representatives in Qatar last September, but the
   dialogue has mostly been deadlocked, with both sides blaming each other
   for stalling the process.
   Observers remain skeptical whether Pakistan or any other country that
   has ties with the Taliban could pressure them into jump-starting the
   stalled intra-Afghan peace negotiations.
   "Well, the Taliban has indicated that [they are] not going to be
   interested in participating in any type of peace conference or any type
   of effort dedicated to the peace process so long as U.S. troops
   continue to be in the country," Michael Kugelman, a U.S. expert on
   South Asian affairs, told VOA's Afghan Service.

   "So, I do think that in the few months that we have before U.S. troops
   have left, it's going to be a real long shot to get the Taliban back
   into the peace process," said Kugelman.
   VOA's Afghan Service contributed to this report.