Pakistan allows US military to fly over its airspace to support presence in Afghanistan

Pakistan allows US military to fly over its airspace to support presence in Afghanistan

Kabul (UNA-OIC) – Pakistan has allowed the US military to have overflight and access to be able to support its presence in Afghanistan, a top Pentagon official has said.

Assistant Secretary of Defense for Indo-Pacific Affairs David F. Helvey told members of the Senate Armed Services Committee the other day that the US will continue its conversation with Pakistan due to the important role it has played to support the peace process in the neighboring war-torn country.

“Pakistan has played an important role in Afghanistan and they have supported the Afghan peace process,” the Pentagon official said. “We will continue our conversations with Pakistan because their support and their contribution to the future of Afghanistan, the future of peace in Afghanistan is going to be critical.”

US troops are set to withdraw from Afghanistan by September 11.

Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee Senator Jack Reed said, “It should not mean an end to our counterterrorism effort. We must ensure that Afghanistan will not be a source of planning, plotting or projecting of terrorist attacks around the globe, including particularly against our homeland. Despite great progress over the last 20 years, the threats from al-Qaeda, ISIS and other terrorist groups still remain.”

Senator James M Inhofe said that precipitous drawdown from Afghanistan carries the risk of severe chaos and violence, and instability in Afghanistan. “As we saw after President Obama’s withdrawal from Iraq in 2011, terrorists will exploit this instability. Two and a half years after the US troops left Iraq, ISIS captured Mosul.

“Secondly, the complete withdrawal of US troops will make it much harder and more expensive to effectively support our Afghan security partners. Over-the-horizon counterterrorism does not work,” he said.

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