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Pakistan Rallies Against U.S. Plan in Afghanistan

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09.16.2017 at 01:17pm

Pakistan Rallies Against U.S. Plan in Afghanistan by Saeed Shah – Wall Street Journal

Pakistan’s top diplomat will reproach the U.S. for its new Afghanistan policy at the United Nations General Assembly next week, saying the Trump administration is following a militaristic approach that has already failed.

In Pakistan’s first strident response to the U.S. policy, Foreign Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif told The Wall Street Journal that he couldn’t understand how the American military could succeed now in Afghanistan when it hadn’t during the “surge” under the Obama administration with a force eight times as large as the one now planned.

He instead called for peace talks with the Taliban, which could be arranged if Washington worked with countries in the region that have influence over the Taliban militant group.

“They are pursuing a folly, a strategy that has already failed,” Mr. Asif said. “Force will not solve any problem, it has not solved problems in the past.” Mr. Asif said tell U.N. members that “peace should return to this area and force is not the solution.” 

Pakistan’s cooperation is vital to the effort to stabilize neighboring Afghanistan and extricating America from its longest war. The U.S. and Pakistan are ostensible allies, but have long suffered strained ties. Relations turned more confrontational after President Donald Trump accused Pakistan in August of providing a haven for terrorists and then threatening to withhold aid if there wasn’t better cooperation.

Mr. Trump had said that a political settlement with elements of the Taliban is “perhaps” possible, but only after an effective U.S. military campaign…

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