John Kirby insisted that there isn’t any plan to reintroduce American boots in Afghanistan (File)
Washington:
The United States continues to have a dialogue with Pakistan on points associated to terrorism alongside the border with Afghanistan, the Pentagon has mentioned.
“We continue to have a dialogue with Pakistan about terrorist issues along that border with Afghanistan. I think it’s helpful to remind that they too have suffered from terrorist attacks inside their country,” Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby instructed reporters at a information convention.
Responding to a query, Kirby mentioned President Joe Biden is obvious on withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan by September 22.
“The president was clear. We are removing US forces from Afghanistan and will maintain the sufficient counter terrorism capabilities we need to detect and prevent threats to our homeland that could emanate from Afghanistan,” Kirby mentioned.
Once the US leaves Afghanistan, he mentioned, they anticipate the sovereignty of Afghanistan to be revered.
He was responding to a query on stories that Beijing is contemplating sending a peacekeeping drive to Afghanistan, as soon as the US pulls out, which can be deployed on the neighbouring province it has with Afghanistan throughout that 44-mile border.
“We certainly wouldn’t speak for another nation and obviously we would call on all of Afghanistan’s neighbours to respect its sovereignty and to respect its territorial integrity as well,” he mentioned.
“If there’s a legitimate terrorism threat that’s emanating from Afghanistan to work in accordance with international law and with the Afghan government to address that, but we want Afghanistan’s sovereignty to be respected,” he asserted.
The US, he mentioned, is eradicating all army personnel from Afghanistan.
“We will remove them by early September. All of them with the exception of what’s going to be required to protect the diplomatic mission in Afghanistan,” he mentioned.
“So I know of no discussions with government in Kabul about reinserting counterterrorism forces inside Afghanistan. As the (Defense) Secretary made clear in Brussels last week, we will maintain sufficient counterterrorism capabilities in the region to deal with emanating threats from Afghanistan, threats to our homeland from terrorist groups, but the president’s direction was crystal clear.”
“All US military personnel with that exception are going to be leaving Afghanistan by the early fall,” he mentioned.
Kirby insisted that there isn’t any plan to reintroduce American boots on the bottom in Afghanistan.
“We have robust counterterrorism capabilities all around the world, and I think as he also – you heard him say in Brussels there’s not a part of the Earth that we can’t hit if we need to hit it, but there are no plans and no discussions about reintroducing American combat forces on the ground in Afghanistan,” he mentioned.
