Taliban's current negotiations with the US might be a ruse to get the Americans out of Afghanistan, which may lead the country to become a safe haven for international terrorists once again, a former top Pakistani diplomat warned the Trump Administration on Thursday.
"If the Americans are seen to abandon Afghanistan in a hurry, jihadists worldwide will tell future recruits how the combination of their religious zeal with terrorism overcame the military prowess of two superpowers," the first having been the Soviet Union, wrote Husain Haqqani, former Pak Ambassador to the US, in an article in the prestigious Foreign Policy magazine
The former ambassador praised President's Trump's Special Representative for Afghan Reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad as "uniquely qualified to navigate the treacherous politics of Afghanistan" but cautioned that "even Khalilzad may not be able to overcome the difference in outlook and commitment between the United States and the Taliban."
He said, "While negotiating with the Taliban, Americans must remember that international terrorism is not over and precipitate US withdrawal from terrorist-infested regions like Afghanistan would only recreate ungoverned spaces that could again serve as operational bases for global terrorists."
In his view, any Afghan settlement "would have to involve verifiable guarantees that Afghan and Pakistani soil will not be used to harbour or train terrorists responsible for attacks around the world."
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