Pakistan permits overflight to US navy to help presence in Afghan: Pentagon official

Pakistan has allowed the US navy to have overflight and entry to have the ability to help its presence in Afghanistan, a high Pentagon official has informed lawmakers.Assistant Secretary of Defence for Indo-Pacific Affairs David F Helvey additionally informed members of the Senate Armed Services Committee on Friday that the US will proceed its dialog with Pakistan because of the vital position it has performed to help the peace course of within the neighbouring war-torn nation.Helvey stated that Pakistan has allowed the US to have overflight and entry to have the ability to help its navy presence in Afghanistan.“Pakistan has played an important role in Afghanistan and they have supported the Afghan peace process,” he stated, responding to Senator Joe Manchin throughout a listening to by the Senate Armed Services Committee on Afghanistan.“We will continue our conversations with Pakistan because their support and their contribution to the future of Afghanistan, the future of peace in Afghanistan is going to be critical,” the Pentagon official stated.“Could you outline your assessment of Pakistan and specifically the Pakistan Intelligence Service, the ISI, and the role you expect them to play in our future?” Manchin requested.Last month, US President Joe Biden introduced to withdraw all troops from Afghanistan by September 11 this 12 months.Senator Jack Reed, Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, stated that the president’s choice ought to be seen as a transition, not closure.“It should not mean an end to our counterterrorism effort. We must ensure that Afghanistan will not be a source of planning, plotting or projecting of terrorist attacks around the globe, including particularly against our homeland. Despite great progress over the last 20 years, the threats from al-Qaeda, ISIS and other terrorist groups still remain,” he stated.Ranking Member Senator James M Inhofe of the Republican Party stated that he and his occasion are against the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan at this level of time.“The fact that the president chose this date, the 20th anniversary of the most horrific terrorist attacks in our nation’s history, indicates this was a calendar-based political decision. It was not based on conditions on the ground, which is the strong bipartisan recommendation Congress has given to both Republican and Democrat presidents over the last decade,” he stated.Inhofe stated the precipitous drawdown from Afghanistan carries many dangers.First, there’s a danger of extreme chaos and violence, and instability in Afghanistan because the Taliban makes use of American withdrawal to escalate its assaults across the nation and in Kabul.“As we saw after President Obama’s withdrawal from Iraq in 2011, terrorists will exploit this instability. Two and a half years after the US troops left Iraq, ISIS captured Mosul.“Secondly, the complete withdrawal of US troops will make it much harder and more expensive to effectively support our Afghan security partners. Over-the-horizon counterterrorism does not work,” he stated, including that the US drawdown places in danger hundreds of Afghans.The US and the Taliban signed a landmark deal in Doha on February 29, 2020 to convey lasting peace in war-torn Afghanistan and permit US troops to return residence from America’s longest conflict.Under the US-Taliban pact signed in Doha, the US agreed to withdraw all its troopers from Afghanistan in 14 months.There are at present 2,500 American troops left in Afghanistan, the bottom degree of American forces within the war-torn nation since 2001.Since the US-led invasion that ousted the Taliban after the September 11, 2001 assaults, America has spent greater than USD 1 trillion on combating and rebuilding in Afghanistan.About 2,400 US troopers have been killed, together with tens of hundreds of Afghan troops, Taliban insurgents and Afghan civilians.Also Read: Sanctuaries in Pakistan contributed immensely to Taliban’s success: US SenatorAlso Read: US, NATO troops pulling out of Afghanistan will increase large issues for India: Experts