Press TV
December 24, 2013
US wants to ‘maintain military presence in Afghanistan’
Audio
The United States insists on maintaining a military presence in the region by keeping its air bases and troops in Afghanistan, says Rick Rozoff from Stop NATO.
“We have to remember that the US is going to under any circumstances maintain its military presence particularly its major ungraded air bases throughout the country, which should be a cause for concern not only for the Afghan people, but for their neighbors,” Rozoff told Press TV.
“Those airbases are not going to be used for peaceful purposes of course,” he added.
According to US and Afghan officials, the United States is backing away from a December 31 deadline for signing a controversial security deal with Afghanistan.
The Obama administration is going to wait in order to strike the deal that will allow the country to keep its troops in Afghanistan beyond the 2014 withdrawal deadline.
US officials threatened that a complete withdrawal is possible if Afghan President Hamid Karzai refuses to sign the pact.
“The handwriting is on the wall that the US despite its attempt to stay in Afghanistan long passed the official deadline for complete withdrawal of Western troops, which is the end of next year 2014, insists on maintaining a military presence in the region in Afghanistan and bordering countries,” Rozoff explained.
“But that I think there is a recognition by neighboring countries that organizations like the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, of which China and Russia are the mainstays, but of which countries like Iran, Pakistan, India, Turkey now could and should fill the vacuum that will be created when the United States and NATO forces leave the country,” he said.
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