Pakistan’s biggest worry is regrouping of militants after American troops pullout from Afghanistan: US general

The US military has begun its complete withdrawal from Afghanistan, General Austin S Miller, the head of the US-led coalition in Afghanistan, said in Kabul on Sunday. His remarks came almost two weeks after President Joe Biden announced that all US forces would be out of the war-torn country by September 11, the 20th anniversary of the terrorist attacks that propelled America into its long war in Afghanistan.

At a recent Pentagon briefing in Washington, General Kenneth F McKenzie Jr, Commander US Central Command (Centcom), has warned that after the US withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan, the biggest threat would be the regrouping of Al Qaeda and IS militants who “will be able to regenerate if pressure is not kept on them”, the Dawn Newspaper reported.

And “that’s very concerning to all the neighbouring states, biggest concern to Pakistan,” he added. As head of Centcom, Gen McKenzie is responsible for all US military activities in the Pak-Afghan region.

The Centcom chief also said militants regrouping was not just a threat to the US or Pakistan. “It’s a concern of all the Central Asian states to the north. It is even of concern to Iran in the West…Everyone has a vested interest in a stable Afghanistan,” he said.

According to a transcript the Pentagon released this weekend, General McKenzie also underlined that his command and American diplomats were working with nations surrounding Afghanistan on agreements to base troops and aircraft for countering terrorists after the US pullout, the report said.

“That would be ultimately a decision made at the national level by the US if we were to seek basing rights in those countries,” said the general when asked if internal politics in Pakistan and other states could prevent Washington from having military bases in the region.

During the early phases of the 18-year war in Afghanistan, the US flew drone missions out of Shamsi airfield in Balochistan, the report said.

General McKenzie said he was now figuring out how the US will be able to conduct counter-terrorism activities in the area without being in Afghanistan.

The pullout, he said, did not “mean that the US will be at the mercy of groups like IS, Al Qaida or the Taliban if they want to create problems and threaten our interests”.