Afghanistan Waits to See How Trump Changes Policy After Victory

United States new president, Donald Trump has previously warned extremist groups during his electoral campaigns.

Trump emphasized that US forces will remain in Afghanistan to fight extremism and its supporters.

Now Afghanistan waits to see Trump’s policy toward Afghanistan as Taliban calls for withdrawal of troops from the country.

“We will not allow that extremism expand in our country. We will defeat extremism and terrorism,” Donald Trump said.

Kabul still needs US military assistances, but Trump has said to withdraw US forces from Afghanistan if elected.

How the withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan would have impact on the country’s situation?

Analysts are said to believe that US foreign policy will not be changed against Afghanistan.

“If the US decides to withdraw forces from Afghanistan, the country will return to the past situations and will turn into a safe haven for terrorists,” said Jawid Kohestani, military analyst.

International relations analysts examines Trump’s measures against Afghanistan.

“US view on Afghanistan will not be changed anytime soon. America has a clear policy, but Trump wants to be away from Afghanistan for a long-term,” said Fardin Bakhtiyari, international relations analyst.

Experts expect a tougher stance from US president-elect Trump on Islamic militancy in Afghanistan and Pakistan than Obama. Trump’s focus is more on Islamabad than Kabul.

This comes as Afghan Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid called for Trump to pull all US troops out of Afghanistan, saying the war had “failed” and had harmed the US “both militarily and economically”.

“Our message is that the Americans should draft a policy not to take away the independence and sovereignty of other nations,” the Taliban said in a statement in reaction to Trump’s election win.

“Most importantly they should withdraw all their troops from Afghanistan,” they asserted.

Jihadists used social media to warn that having Trump in the White House would unite the mujahideen, SITE director Rita Katz tweeted, with supporters of Al Qaeda (AQ) and the Islamic State (IS) saying the billionaire’s election exposed America’s hatred of Muslims and would contribute to America’s downfall.

Trump has not outlined a detailed Afghanistan policy, and he has flip-flopped on whether he believes the U.S. attack on the al Qaeda-supporting Taliban government that ruled until 2001 was even a good idea.