Trump’s Afghan plans will lead to agony, says Pakistan

Deploying more troops in hope of defeating Taliban will embroil US in doomed war, Islamabad warns

DONALD TRUMP’S Afghanistan strategy will embroil the US in an unwinnable “perpetual war” doomed to fail, a senior Pakistani official has warned.

Nasir Khan Janjua, the national security adviser to Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, the Pakistani prime minister, said attempts to defeat the Taliban militarily would lead only to “prolonged agony” and urged the Trump administration to negotiate with the group.

The comments come amid mounting tension between Washington and Islamabad after the US president last month suspended aid and accused Pakistan of offering “safe haven” to terrorists operating in Afghanistan.

The remarks were greeted with anger in Pakistan, where senior military and political officials immediately accused him of using the country as a “scapegoat” for Western military failures.

“The fact is that we are not winning in Afghanistan,” Mr Janjua told The

Daily Telegraph. “The Taliban control at least 44 per cent of the country. The US forces in Afghanistan do not have popular support. They are still seen as forces of occupation.

“The new administration has opted for the old failed recipe, a recipe that has been tried for the last 16 years. It is about winning the war, not about finding a way to end it,” he said. “The Pakistani recipe is reconciliation and a negotiated settlement.”

He added: ”The UK lost 456 officers and men there. And what for? All these areas are now under the good control of the Taliban. Were these sacrifices worthless?”

The US and Afghan forces are preparing a major offensive this year in an attempt to reverse significant gains made by the Taliban since Barack Obama announced a withdrawal of most US forces in 2014. In August Mr Trump announced a strategy for Afghanistan that included boosting troop numbers and committing to remain in the country as long as necessary.

The announcement has been viewed with widespread suspicion in Pakistan, where many view the conflict more as a second front in the country’s long-running conflict with India rather than part of a global war on terrorism.

Western and Afghan officials have expressed frustration with Pakistan’s failure to curb militant activity in its border regions since the war began in October 2001. Meanwhile, the Afghan government said it had “irrefutable” proof that a series of massive terrorist attacks in Kabul, including an assault on Kabul’s luxury Intercontinental hotel on Jan 20, had been planned in Pakistan.

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