US’s desire to control world
THIS is not the first time that the Biden Administration has sought to establish bases in neighbouring countries to monitor and take action against terrorist groups in Afghanistan since the withdrawal of US troops from the country.
The issue has been raised several times over the years by various sources and in its statements; such baseless impressions have been mixed that Pakistan is considering any such permission.
In the past, these assumptions have been rejected by Pakistan on relevant forums, and now Prime Minister Imran Khan in an interview with an American TV channel has categorically rejected the issue of giving military bases to the United States. His “Absolutely No” has become a buzzword.
Afghanistan’s infrastructure is in a state of disrepair at the time of the US withdrawal. The United States has spent more than $2 trillion on the Afghan war, but no significant money has been spent on Afghanistan’s infrastructure projects in the last 20 years.
At a time when the United States is about to leave Afghanistan, the country is in dire need of large-scale infrastructure and human development projects. As a neighbour, Pakistan is naturally concerned about the situation in Afghanistan.
Pakistan wants the country to have the support of sincere regional powers after the withdrawal of foreign troops, industries to be set up in Afghanistan, agriculture to flourish and the Afghan people should be economically strong, but the anti-peace forces in the region want to keep the chaos in Afghanistan.
The new form of US intervention has the potential to threaten the prospects for development in Afghanistan.
The US strategy of sitting outside and keeping an eye on Afghanistan is a plan to make Afghanistan’s future subject to its own will.
Such intervention can never bring satisfaction to the region, it is worse than ground intervention, in which there can be no trace of good. It should be strongly condemned and opposed at the regional level as well.
Pakistan’s rejection of the possibility of providing military bases in no uncertain terms is a good move; it will not only stop the propaganda of internal and external conspiratorial elements but also gain the trust of Afghans.
The Afghan Taliban have already appealed to neighbouring countries not to allow anyone to do so. If such a step were taken again, it would be a historic mistake.
The Afghan Taliban’s threat to worsen the situation also needs to be examined in light of the possibility that Pakistan’s involvement in such a project will have to pay the heaviest price, in this situation if the United States wants to leave Afghanistan after twenty years, then this evacuation should be a cause of peace and security for the region and not a prelude to further destruction.
The world has undergone great changes in the last twenty years. Now the nature of relations between nations and countries is not the same as before.
In this context, the United States must also change its desire to control the world.
—The writer is a regular columnist, based in Lahore.
