US defense secretary James Mattis says Taliban is a terror group, and they will be tackled militarily.
He added the US official policy on supporting a “peace process” in Afghanistan may change.
US defense secretary James Mattis gave clear indication that the US may not give Taliban the space for a political “solution” in Afghanistan.
The message from Rex Tillerson secretary of state and Mattis is the same.
Mattis said, “we’re up against an enemy that knows that they cannot win at the ballot box, and you think – we have to sometimes remind ourselves of that reality. That’s why they use bombs because ballots would ensure they never had a role to play”
Tillerson continued, “our commitment to Afghanistan is to ensure that it never becomes a safe haven for terrorists to launch attacks against the civilized world or against any other part of the world or any of their neighbors.” Thus far, the US has been pushing the Afghan government to set up a peace process with the Taliban, as the only way to end the war.
Although the official US review of its Afghanistan policy is still pending, the remarks are a strong signal that the US may turn up the military heat on the Taliban. Certainly, there is no more the oft-repeated line that the US believes “there is no military solution” to the Afghan crisis.
But the horrific attacks in recent weeks by the Haqqani network appears to have made up US minds on how not to look for peace in Afghanistan.
If one has to interpret Mattis and Tillerson’s statements, a harder counter-terrorism strategy may be in the offing. The uncertainty is in Donald Trump and how he turns on the question. Mattis rounded off with, “the bottom line is we’re not going to surrender civilization to people who cannot win at the ballot box.” It’s the clearest sign that the Trump administration does not want to give the Taliban a place at the table, something that will impact Pakistan if it becomes policy.
Times of India
