Pakistan Support for Taliban Is A Reason Why U.S. Not Winning – Ex-Envoy

The former U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan Ronald Neumann says that Pakistan is one of the reasons why couldn’t the United States win in Afghanistan after 16 years.

“I think there are several reasons, one of course has been the support of Pakistan sanctuaries for the Taliban, but the second reason also is that there is a lot of bad government in Afghanistan and a lot of corruption … and a lot of tribal problems,” said Ronald Neumann.

Since the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, hundreds of U.S. troops have died and millions of dollars were spent but the United States were not able to eradicate the Taliban and other terrorist groups in the country.

For a long time, the Afghan government is insisting Washington to put more pressure on Islamabad to stop funding and giving safe havens for the Taliban leaders, but seems there are still ambiguity in this regard in the America.

“I think Americans are very divided over whether they can have a better relationship with Pakistan or it has to be worse relationship. There has never been a clear agreement inside American politics about how hard to push Pakistan,” Neuman affirmed.

As the U.S. President Donald Trump is reviewing a new strategy for Afghanistan, the former American diplomat is asking his government to finalize it as soon as possible.

“[My advice is] to stop having deadlines. Be clear that you are going to support Afghanistan for a long time. Taliban cannot win by waiting. Pakistan cannot win by waiting. America is going to stay steady,” he insisted.

By Ali Asghari & Hesamuddin Hesam