5.1.2019    Tanai hits out at US for lingering insecurity in Afghanistan

A former defence minister, despising President Donald Trump’s remarks on the Soviet invasion, has lashed out at the United States for lingering security threats in Afghanistan. At a cabinet meeting earlier on the week, Trump defended the Soviet invasion, saying the former USSR were right to attack Afghanistan to prevent the entry of terrorists, Reacting to Trump’s statement, Shah Nawaz Tanai, who served as defence minister during the Soviet occupation in the 1980s, accused the US which of spearheading the war against the Soviets. “There was no terrorist in the northern parts of Afghanistan to pose amy threat to Soviet Union. But when the Soviets invaded Afghanistan, fighting also started in northern Afghanistan,” Tanai said in an interview with a Pakistani newspaper. Gen. Tanai said: “People refused to accept the (Soviet) invasion and started resistance. Many people launched an armed struggle. Donald Trump has ignored historical facts and talked nonsense.” About Trump’s statement that Russia, Pakistan and India should fight the terrorists in Afghanistan, Tanai said the US was trying to put an end to its longest war in its history. The Americans had failed to win the war in Afghanistan and that was why Trump had sacked his defence secretary James Mattis, he said, believing the US would not completely exit Afghanistan. His assessment is based on America’s campaign to counter the influence of Russia and Iran in the region. “Americans are also interested in the continuation of the present democratic and the pro-Western system, so they should not feel threatened.” The US has committed many mistakes in Afghanistan over the past 17 years, according to Tanai, who excoriated American generals for their inability to perform their duties sincerely.