Former Afghan Defence Minister Shahnawaz Tanai said the US plans to use Afghanistan’s Bagram airport to operate drones for strikes in Pakistani could harm Pak-Afghan relations. In an exclusive telephonic interview from Kabul, he said now that the US had vacated Pakistan’s Shamsi airbase, it will use Afghanistan for drone operations will spoil ties with Islamabad.
“The use of Afghan soil against Pakistan will push the two countries to hostility,” Tanai said.
He said that the US drone attacks in Pakistani tribal areas had been suspended but had not been stopped. He said Afghan President Hamid Karzai had vowed to not allow anyone to use his country’s soil against a neighboring country, but the US drone incident in Iran and attack against Pakistani post’s at Salala had proven the president was too weak to stop it. “And both Iran and Pakistan urged Afghan government to take notice of using its soil for such actions,” he added.
