Press TV
January 24, 2014
US takes ‘vindictive, punitive’ actions against Afghanistan
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Congress’s decision to halve the US aid to Afghanistan is aimed at punishing the Afghan government, an American peace activist says, as President Hamid Karzai is still refusing to sign a security agreement that would allow US presence in the war-torn country beyond this year.
“This is clearly a punitive, vindictive action by the US Congress against the current government in Afghanistan because they have been hesitant to sign an entirely one-sided bilateral security agreement with the United States,” said Rick Rozoff, a member of Stop NATO International.
US lawmakers have provided $1.12 billion to Afghanistan for fiscal 2014 for overall civilian assistance, a 50 percent reduction from the previous fiscal year. The funding is part of the massive spending bill signed into law on Friday by President Barack Obama.
The fact that the US Congress will cut what little non-military aid the US has been providing Afghanistan is clearly an act of “spitefulness and vengefulness,” Rozoff told Press TV on Wednesday.
“This is a warning or a threat moreover not only to the government of Afghanistan, but the other surrounding governments,” he further said. “That you play the game according to our rules, or else is the message that Washington is delivering.”
Tensions between the US and Afghanistan have escalated over the prolonged negotiations on the Bilateral Security Agreement (BSA). The negotiations began earlier 2013 and, if completed, will define the shape of the US military presence in Afghanistan for years to come.
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