ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has taken note of the US Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction report (Sigar) released this week, which points out that US military equipment worth billions of dollars has found its way into the hands of Afghan regime.
Pakistan is well aware of this ground reality as the US had some time back claimed that this military equipment, including weapons and security infrastructure, was worth $7.1 billion, which the US forces left in Afghanistan as it hurriedly left the landlocked country with Kabul falling to the Afghan Taliban. Also included are 131 operational aircraft in use of the Taliban, confirms Sigar.
Pakistan had earlier urged stronger international efforts to prevent access of illicit arms to armed terrorist groups in Afghanistan and to ensure that the Afghan interim authorities adhere to their international obligations and commitments in that regard. It had asked the international community to step up its efforts and plug gaps in its response to effectively address these threats to international and regional peace and security.
Terrorist entities, including ISIL-K, TTP Fitna Al Khawarij, a UN listed terrorist organisation, and BLA and Majeed Brigade, which operate with impunity from Afghanistan, enabled by external financing and support of principal destabilising actor in the region, have used these weapons against Pakistani civilians and law enforcement agencies – leading to the loss of thousands of innocent lives, maintained Pakistan.
When the spokesperson at the Foreign Office was approached by The News for his comment on the Sigar report, he pointed out that the Foreign Office had earlier commented on US arms in the hands of the Afghan regime and, in this regard, he pointed to the recent statement by Ambassador Asim Iftikhar Ahmad, Permanent Representative of Pakistan to the United Nations.
“Pakistan is seriously concerned about the presence of stockpiles of sophisticated arms and ammunition in Afghanistan, as noted in the findings of UN Secretary General’s reports. These sophisticated weapons pose a direct threat to neighboring countries for terrorist activities. Weapons confiscated at the Pakistan-Afghanistan border are traced back to stockpiles of weapons left behind by foreign forces in Afghanistan and illegal weapons being sold across black markets in Afghanistan. The movement of unmarked or unregistered weapons across the international border sustain and aid non-state armed groups, terrorist networks and criminal gangs, undermining regional security and stability,” Ambassador Ahmad had said.
Meanwhile, questions have been raised whether Pakistan had taken up the issue of US military equipment in the hands of Afghan Taliban and TTP bilaterally with Washington.
Diplomatic sources indicate that it has been brought to the attention of Washington and the issue has been flagged several times focusing on the fact that the TTP has used US military equipment to carry out terrorist attacks inside Pakistan.
The US, too, on different occasions has raised this issue. President Trump before taking office had linked future financial assistance to Afghanistan conditional, linking it to the return of US military equipment. “If we are going to pay billions of dollars a year, tell them we’re not going to give them the money unless they give back our military equipment... So, we will give them a couple of bucks; we want the military equipment back,” Trump had stated.
Earlier, this topic was raised at the Foreign Office by the media when Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar in his initial telephone call with US Secretary of State Secretary Marco Rubio, welcomed the US agreement on the need to resolve the issue of US military equipment left behind in Afghanistan.
Recently, the spokesperson was asked if Pakistan would welcome the US going into Afghanistan directly to recover this military equipment.
“Our security cooperation with the US has been an ongoing process. Security, counter-terrorism, and intelligence cooperation is going on. There was not any hiatus which would need to restart because of a particular event. Secondly, the assertion of Pakistan supporting any US action in this regard is too speculative.
This is not what we have said. This is a matter between Afghanistan and the US. The USA left its weapons there. We have supported the idea that the US can try to get its weapons back. Our concern is that those weapons have been found being used by terrorists in their operations inside Pakistan.
We have flagged it. If the US can make any efforts to get those weapons back, it would be helpful for the overall regional security,” the spokesperson had responded.
