Islamabad, PAKISTAN – President Obama’s plan to begin withdrawing U.S. troops from Afghanistan in July 2011 has emboldened terrorists and increased distrust of U.S. intentions in the region, Pakistani Foreign Minister Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi said Thursday.
“The administration’s withdrawal date was music to the ears of the militants and terrorists,” Qureshi said in an exclusive interview with The Washington Examiner. “This sends the wrong signal, and you will have chaos and confusion in Afghanistan if this comes to fruition.”
Meeting with a reporter in his Islamabad office, Qureshi said, “If we walk away sort of leaving things half-baked, that could be the worst thing you could have done to regional stability.”
The minister’s comments marked some of the strongest criticism yet from regional allies of the Obama administration’s goal to begin withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan in July 2011. That intention was spelled out by the president during a December speech in which he announced a surge of American troops into Afghanistan, from about 30,000 to more than 100,000.
Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates later suggested that once the withdrawal begins in July 2011, completing it could take “two or three years,” while conceding that “there are no deadlines in terms of when our troops will all be out.”
Qureshi said Pakistan “is ready to deliver” and has proved its commitment to fighting extremists with the arrests of many top terrorist leaders, the killing of more than 600 al Qaeda fighters and successful operations in the nation’s tribal region. He said Pakistan continues to view the United States as a partner at war with a common enemy “despite past differences and distrust.”
An Afghan official with knowledge of current military operations in Afghanistan told The Examiner that the announcement of a planned withdrawal date made the people of his country apprehensive about openly supporting the U.S.-led NATO mission.
“They’re afraid to be deserted,” the Afghan official said. “The Taliban watches the news, the news spreads, and they use it as a weapon against the people. It works against what we’re trying to accomplish, no matter what anyone says publicly.”
The Obama administration has argued that the extra troops will help speed the process for withdrawal and aid Afghanistan in developing a strong security force of its own to govern the populace.
Republican leaders, who were supportive of the troop increase, did not agree with the president’s declaration of a withdrawal.
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., a presidential rival, said a withdrawal date would “dispirit our friends and encourage our enemies.”
Qureshi was openly skeptical that the U.S. would be able to achieve a withdrawal next summer without destabilizing the region.
“Can the [U.S.] walk away?” he asked. “Even if you leave Afghanistan, can you walk away from this situation? In my view, you can pull your troops out, right? But you cannot walk away because [the terrorists] might bite you in your land.”
