Resurgence of Taliban and overthrow of the Afghanistan government by them is not in the interest of Pakistan, a top US commander based in the war-torn nation said on Saturday and added that top Pakistan military leadership understands this.
“My guess is that the Pakistani government and Pakistan army chief General Ashfaq Kayani probably very much understand that a Taliban resurgence in Afghanistan and ultimately the overthrow of the Afghan government is not in their interests either,” General John Allen, commander of the US and NATO forces in Afghanistan said.
In an interview to the popular Charlie Rose show on PBS news network, Allen said Pakistan’s interests were not served by a Taliban government ultimately reasserting itself in Kabul
“Taliban have not made any visible effort or public effort to separate themselves from al Qaeda. And if that is in fact the case, then they remain a menace and they remain a menace to the region, not just a menace to the Afghan people and to the Afghan government,” he said.
The top American commander said the safe havens in the federally administered tribal areas were going to be a difficulty for some time to come. Allen said the US was asking Pakistan to do more.
“We would ask them to do more, that’s ultimately a decision that’s going to have to come from continued discussion between our government and theirs, but I believe that I have had good conversations with General Kayani about cross-border coordination, and the potential, even, to have complementary operations on each side of the border where we can leverage each other’s military capabilities,” he said.
Allen expressed hope that Kayani understands the urgency to do something about it.
“I hope so and we have had conversations and I think we have worked hard to depict that on December 31, 2014 it isn’t the end of the US relationship with Afghanistan or the international relationship with Afghanistan,” he said.
“Part of I believe his comfort with the role of Pakistan in the region is the home, the desire that Afghanistan will remain a stable state, a stable state with constructive relations with Islamabad and with Pakistan, and it’s important then that we have a conversation between Pakistan and the US.”
“And that Afghanistan has a conversation with Pakistan that leads us all to the common belief and the common conviction that a stable Afghanistan that is aligned with the US with good constructive relationship with Pakistan is in everyone’s interests, not just the US interest, not just the Afghan interest but with Pakistan and in their interest as well,” Allen said.
