Monday, July 25, 2011
No permenant bases in Afghanistan
Ninety nine years should be enough time to get it done and get out. So says the new ambassador to Ye Olde Shithole.
The United States has no interest in creating permanent military bases in Afghanistan and does not want to use the country as a platform to influence neighboring countries, the new U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan said Monday.This is all part and parcel of the campaign to stay there as long as the military can sucker the White House into thinking it's necessary. The operative phrase came next.
Washington is negotiating with the Afghan government on a deal to define the long-term American role in Afghanistan beyond the end of 2014, when NATO-led combat troops are due to leave after handing security control to the Afghan army and police.
It remains unclear whether the "strategic partnership" agreement would explicitly refer to possible U.S. military bases in Afghanistan beyond 2014. Afghan President Hamid Karzai has said the possibility of long-term U.S. bases can only be addressed once peace has been achieved.
"We have no interest in permanent bases in Afghanistan," said U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker shortly after he was sworn in at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, in an apparent nod to Afghanistan's powerful and wary neighbors.
"We will stay as long as we need to and not one day more."If that were truly the case we would have been gone years ago.
Subscribe to Posts [Atom]
Post a Comment