With the pullout of US troops from Afghanistan,Pentagon officials are making last-minutes efforts to pursue basing optionswith Afghanistan's neighbors for future operations. Washington continues tofocus on Pakistan for establishing a military base in the region, despite thefact that some American officials believe the negotiations have reached animpasse for now, The New York Times reported on Monday.
While we have no basing agreements toannounce, we know that Afghanistan's neighbors share our desire to counter thescourge of global terrorism, a Defense Department spokesperson was quotedas saying by ANI/Sputnik Monday. Washington will continue to pursue optionswith partners and allies in the region, the spokesperson said.
The US finally made the decision to withdraw troopsafter having been stuck in a quagmire for nearly 20 years. It now is in acomplex and fully frustrated psychological state. On the one hand, Washingtonfeels impotent to stabilize the Afghan situation; on the other, it is unwillingto see itself lose control of Afghanistan after its troops' pullout.
Therefore, securing a military base inAfghanistan's neighbors has become a choice. Washington's purpose is to ensureit can still form a timely military deterrent against Afghanistan even if itstroops are withdrawn from the war-torn country.
The most preferred option is for the US to operatea base is Pakistan. This is why Washington is making great efforts to persuadeIslamabad to allow it to do so. After all, Pakistan was once an important USally in South Asia. It supported the decision of the administration of formerUS president George W. Bush to start a war in Afghanistan to overthrow theTaliban regime 20 years ago. But the cooperation between the two countries onthe war in Afghanistan has put the Pakistani government under intense pressurefrom Islamic extremism.
Pakistan doesn't want to be dragged into Afghanaffairs and draw fire upon itself anymore. Pakistani Foreign Minister ShahMahmood Qureshi in May ruled out the possibility of any US military bases onits soil in the future. However, the US has not discarded its attempts, and isstill trying to persuade it.
Apart from Pakistan, another obvious option forWashington would be Central Asia. US troops were, after all, based in theregion from 2001 to 2014. According to US media reports, the Pentagon is indeedeyeing Tajikistan and Uzbekistan as potential candidates for new bases.However, it's hard to imagine that Central Asian countries will easily allowWashington to open bases.
Currently, Central Asian countries have somesecurity concerns. First, as the US is planning to completely withdraw itstroops from Afghanistan, this irresponsible behavior may challenge the securityof these countries. Second, they need to take into account their relations withMoscow when coordinating their relations with Washington.
The withdrawal of the US troops is, in fact, a newmilitary strategy to deal with the changes of the situation in Afghanistan. Itis a relatively low-cost way to maintain the US' strategic andmilitary deterrence. If the US cannot find an appropriate alternative inAfghanistan's periphery in time, the expected effects of its policy ofwithdrawing from Afghanistan will be significantly reduced.
However, a new US military base on their territoryis no different from a hot potato - one that Afghanistan's neighbors areunwilling to take over. Allowing Washington to operate a base can easily turncountries into a target of the Taliban and anti-US forces throughout theregion. The Afghan Taliban has warned their neighbors against allowing the USmilitary to operate bases on their soil. We urge neighboring countriesnot to allow anyone to do so, the Taliban said in a recent statement,adding that they would not remain silent in the face of such heinous andprovocative acts.
Washington's attempts to establish a base inAfghanistan's periphery could help the hegemonic force sustain its influence onthe Afghan situation, but will not contribute to ease the situation foreveryday Afghans. Washington worries that Beijing and Moscow will fill thepower vacuum after its troop withdrawal. This only demonstrates the US'hegemonic logic.
China is practicing true multilateralism by makingefforts to promote the Afghan peace process within multilateral frameworks,including the SCO, China-Central Asia cooperation and theChina-Pakistan-Afghanistan trilateral cooperation mechanism. The biggeststrength of China's methods is that relevant parties can participate on thebasis of equality, integrate multilateral and bilateral efforts, andproactively promote peace talks instead of insisting on military solutions.This is more consistent with the reality and needs of Afghanistan.
（作者：钮松，上海外国语大学中东研究所研究员）
来源：Global Times
