US Diplomat Calls Trump’s Policy Against Afghanistan ‘Essential’

Doug Brooks, a member of the board of directors of the Afghan-American Chamber of Commerce (AACC) considers the foreign policy of US new elected president on Afghanistan very important.

Brooks says the United States should not witness a rollback and weakness in its policy against Afghanistan in the new government.

“We don’t know what the new Trump policy will be on Afghanistan. During the election there was very little discussions about Afghanistan. We had almost nothing from Donald Trump about what his policy would be. I think it is important for the Trump administration to recognize the importance of Afghanistan, the importance of having a strong Afghanistan policy and the importance of supporting the democratically elected Afghanistan government. The Afghans have made great strides over the past 15 years in terms of everything, such as; health care, economy, education, so we don’t want to see policy backslide, we don’t want this policy become weaker and the Taliban take over,” said Doug Brooks, a member of the board of directors of (AACC).

Earlier, Donald Trump and Russian President, Vladimir Putin ties revealed in social medias, but what can bring to Afghanistan out of this relation?

“Apparently, Trump and Putin go back a long way, they have a relationship that goes way back and this is a bit of an issue, because the Russian force have been getting quite close to Pakistan, so this could be a problem for Afghanistan. There is a lot of questions about that. Vladimir Putin, is no friend of the United States and Afghanistan, and I think it would be a great problem for the future. But hopefully, if Mr. Trump has good connections with Putin, they can make some sort of deal that would support the future of Afghanistan in long term,”  Brooks added.

So far, it remains difficult to predict what Trump is chalking out for Afghanistan and the region.

Political commentators and experts in Afghanistan are less optimistic about any significant changes in U.S. policy toward Afghanistan and Pakistan, citing the institutional nature of U.S. policy formulation.

This comes as the well-known Afghan-American diplomat Zalmay Khalilzad is said to be a key man for Trump as nominee for State Department.

His influence and closeness with Trump might play a significant role in shifting U.S. policy toward Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Reported by Nazira Karimi from Washington D.C

Edited by Zack Arya