The US embassy in Islamabad has denied assertions attributed to Brigadier General Stephen Twitty, a spokesman for the United States Forces in Afghanistan that the United States was willing to cede Afghan territory as part of a rapprochement with the Haqqani network and that the US saw the Haqqani network playing an important role in the future political dispensation of Afghanistan, terming them false.
In a clarification, the embassy said these comments, attributed to “a senior American military official” were inconsistent with the US policy. “Further, only the government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan has the authority to take political steps on behalf of the Afghan people,” it said.