Daily Times

WASHINGTON: United States Army general Lieutenant General Austin Miller has said that he considers Pakistan as a part of the solution of the Afghanistan issue.

General Miller has been nominated by US president Donald Trump to lead the allied forces in Afghanistan.

Responding to questions during the Senate Armed Services Committee meeting on Tuesday, Miller maintained that Pakistan had made ‘many sacrifices’ in the war on terror. He said Pakistan’s ‘security forces have fought bravely’, but added that the resolve shown in counter-terrorism efforts against anti-Pakistan militants had yet to be replicated in actions against Afghan Taliban or Haqqani leaders residing in Pakistan.

In the past, President Trump has also been vocal on the issue. In August last year, he said, “we can no longer be silent about Pakistan’s safe havens for terrorist organisations, the Taliban and other groups that pose a threat to the region.”

Speaking further at the Senate Armed Services Committee meeting on Tuesday, General Miller said that the biggest challenge to stabilising Afghanistan remained the militant sanctuaries in Pakistan.

“We should have high expectations that they [Pakistan] are part of the solution, not just diplomatically but from a security standpoint as well,” he said, as reported by Bloomberg.

The 57-year old military veteran, who as a captain led a ground assault during the October 1993 ‘Black Hawk Down’ operation in Mogadishu, Somalia, has now been tasked with executing the Trump-backed Pentagon strategy that abandons any public timeline for withdrawing about 14,000 US troops, and assigns the troops to work more closely with Afghan troops.

Regarding his strategy in the war-torn country, he said, “The focus of military operations in 2018 is supporting secure and credible elections. In 2019 and beyond, the improved leadership and increased offensive capability should result in improved battlefield performance to compel the Taliban into political reconciliation.”

In his written answers, Miller said a cease-fire declared by Afghan President Ashraf Ghani – and honoured by the Taliban for three days before they returned to combat – was ‘an unprecedented moment in this long war’.

During the Senate session, Republicans and Democrats alike questioned Miller on what conditions had changed in the 17 years of combat. “Obviously there is a expectation that you’ll bring something in that is going to offer something new,” Senator James Inhofe, an Oklahoma Republican, told Miller. “Because to continue to do the same thing that’s led us into 17 years is not going to be acceptable.”

Senator Elizabeth Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat, recounted several instances over the past several years when American commanders and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta touted great progress or turning points. Taking a jibe at his oft-repeated refrain, Warren said, “General Miller, we’ve supposedly turned the corner so many times that it seems we’re going in circles.”

Trump has, in the past, accused Pakistan of harbouring “agents of chaos” and providing safe havens to militant groups waging an insurgency against a US-backed government in Kabul. Meanwhile, Pakistan estimates that there have been 70,000 casualties in militant attacks, including 17,000 martyred, since it joined the US “war on terrorism” after the September 11, 2001, attacks.

Published in Daily Times, June 21^st 2018.