Strategic Council Online—Interview: An expert of Afghanistan affairs says it seems the Americans had reached an agreement with the Taliban to limit their military presence in Afghanistan, adding that the United States would prolong its military presence in Afghanistan not to lose it to its rivals like in Iraq.
Strategic Council Online – An expert on the subcontinent affairs said that with Biden coming to power, the strategy that the Americans have devised for Afghanistan will not change, but perhaps the current administration’s tactics towards Taliban and Afghanistan would be different from those of Donald Trump.
Strategic Council Online—Interview: It seems that the Biden’s administration would partly make efforts to compensate the misguided policies and blunders of the Trump’s administration in the Middle East, says the Director of Global Studies Program of the Center for Strategic Studies of presidency, adding that the Biden’s administration should try to choose policies which are acceptable for the majority of the countries of the region while do not aim to interfere in the domestic affairs of the regional countries.
Strategic Council Online – Despite warnings, Ronald Trump intends to reduce the number of American troops from Afghanistan and Iraq ahead of the deadline. He wants to be still influential in foreign and security policy, and intends to constrain his successor, Joe Biden. Withdrawal of US troops from Iraq and Afghanistan, without coordination and acceptance of the responsibility, could have dangerous consequences for the region as well as for the European allies of the US.
Mahmoud Fazeli – Expert on International Affairs
Strategic Council Online – As ISIS targets the Afghan capital with numerous missile strikes, this idea has been bolstered that it could pave the way for a continued US presence in Afghanistan and given that ISIS terrorist attacks are in line with the targets of the White House to perpetuate violence in Afghanistan and manage it, planning of those attacks has been attributed to Washington.
Mohammad Reza Asgari Moroudi – senior expert on Asia affairs
Strategic Council Online: Sarwar Danesh, Second Vice-President of Afghanistan, has called on the next US administration to reconsider the process of negotiations with the Taliban group. Danesh also criticized escalation of violence and the Taliban’s lack of cooperation in the peace process, saying that most Taliban members who have been released from prisons in Afghanistan had returned to the battlefields contrary to their commitment. Now the question is whether with the victory of Joe Biden in the US elections the policies of that country towards Afghanistan will change?
Strategic Council Online– Opinion: The fact of the matter is that the United States has a long presence in Afghanistan and the reason for such occupancy is not Afghanistan or Afghans per se but it is related to China, Russia, Iran and other US rivals in the region. It should be noted that Afghanistan enjoys a strategic status in the US foreign policy to contain China; therefore, if we differentiate between these two points, then the issue of the presence of the US in Afghanistan becomes clarified to a great extent.
Pirmohammad Mollazehi-Expert of Asia affairs
Strategic Council Online—Editorial: After years of conflict, violence and bloodshed, the government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and the Taliban, finally, accepted to sit at the negotiation table instead of killing each other and using military tools and terror to put a stop to the multi-decade wars in Afghanistan through political action and inter-Afghan talks.
Seyyed Mostafa Hashemi—Expert of Afghanistan affairs
Khalil Zad didn’t allow Europe to play the main role in the negotiations and faded Europe role in political process. Well, The European’s concerns about Afghanistan are not included in the US-Taliban agreement. European countries and the E.U use Iran and Afghanistan’s issues to answer the U.S unilateral actions.
Mostafa Hashemi – Afghanistan expert
Strategic Council Online – The former chief of staff of the Afghan ministry of foreign affairs, while welcoming the efforts to start Intra-Afghan talks, said: “The most important issue in this direction is the actions of the United States, because it may be seeking its shares sabotage in the future to seek a share of this event.”
Strategic Council Online If peace between Afghans does not occur and the Taliban continue to be a threat to the Afghan government, then Washington’s withdrawal strategy may be halted and the United States will continue to be present and confront the Taliban.
Nozar Shafiee – Expert and Researcher of Subcontinent Affairs
Strategic Council Online: According to the agreement reached between the United States and the Taliban in March 2018, the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan will begin and by mid-July (July 2020) the number of US combat troops will reach 8600 persons. This is happening at a time when the bilateral security agreement between the United States and the Afghan government is still valid. In addition, in recent months, the activities of terrorist groups in Afghanistan have not diminished, but in addition to the Taliban’s spring attacks, ISIS terrorist activities in Afghanistan are taking civilian tolls from among the oppressed people of Afghanistan, and the atmosphere of insecurity has not changed. Although the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan is important, it may have significant implications for the future of Afghanistan and the region, given the shortcomings and negligence in fulfilling their commitments, especially in the field of training Afghan forces. Americans should accept responsibility and pay the damages.
Seyed Mostafa Hashemi – Afghan Affairs Expert
