Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said the US will pursue an”over-the-horizon” mission in Afghanistan in response to counterterrorism.
Austin made the remarks at the International Institute for StrategicStudies’ (IISS) Manama Dialogue 2021.
“We must work together to combat terrorism—including in Afghanistan fromal-Qaeda, and from the malice and sectarian hatred of ISIS.” he said.
“And we’ll keep up our relentless focus on counterterrorism, even as weshift to an over-the-horizon concept in Afghanistan,” the defense secretarysaid at the conference.
The Islamic Emirate said that the US was defeated in Afghanistan and thatthere is no need for any foreign country to counter terrorism in thecountry.
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“There are no outsiders in Afghanistan. We will not allow any country’spresence by any other means,” said Inayatullah Khwarazami, a spokesman forthe Ministry of Defense.
The US ended its 20-year military mission in late August with a rapidwithdrawal of American troops and Afghan allies.
“The truth is that none of these countries were honest regardingAfghanistan. They all were in Afghanistan for their own interests,” saidAbdulhaq Humad, a political analyst.
