In an interview with Sputnik Dari, Afghan MP Baktash Siavash said that such an incident on the part of the Pentagon is not surprising because the US is generally quite clueless not only about the landscape of Afghanistan but about Afghan society as a whole.
“The Americans made a stupid mistake not only in choosing the color of the uniforms for the Afghan military but in everything they have done, such as choosing a friend or foe for Afghanistan and showing support to flawed political leaders of the country,” Siavesh said.
“Unfortunately, the Americans on all fronts suffer a political fiasco in Afghanistan only because they do not learn from the mistakes of others – those foreign forces that were already in Afghanistan,” the MP said.
He further said, “The US believes that if a person [a politician or military personnel] in Afghanistan speaks excellent English, you can bet on him and include him in the ranks of ‘our own.’”
According to Siavesh, the US has spent enormous amounts of money to this day under the loud slogan of "investments for the good and prosperous Afghanistan," but in fact, none of this went to the Afghan people and it did not benefit the restoration of stability in the country.
“Unfortunately, more than 15 years have passed and they are still there. That's the effectiveness of American money and their presence here. Even the so-called international military coalition led by the US could not achieve anything, no success and no progress,” Saivesh said.
He stressed that the US forces do not know anything about “the history, culture, religion, traditions and ways of the Afghan society.”
He further said that for more than 10 years the US made many mistakes in the country and on top of everything did not manage to teach the Afghan forces anything worth knowing.
“On the contrary, they weakened the fighting capacity of the military forces. Therefore, if right now the Americans were to leave Afghanistan overnight, the security forces alone would not be able to withstand the enemy even for several hours,” Siavesh concluded.
Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada blamed the US and its allies for jeopardizing stability in the region with their presence. He added that constructive diplomatic relations could become a reality after his demands are met.
"The occupation is the main obstacle in the way of peace," Akhundzada's Friday statement read, as reported by Deutsche Welle.
“The more [the United States] insist on maintaining the presence of their forces here or want a surge of their forces, the more regional sensitivity against them will intensify,” it read.
The statement follows a confirmation by a White House official that the Pentagon will deploy an additional 4,000 troops to Afghanistan in an effort to end the stalemate of the war.
The United States and its allies launched a military operation in Afghanistan in 2001 following the 9/11 terror attacks. The mission in Afghanistan ended on Dec. 28, 2014. On Jan. 1, 2015, NATO announced a new mission in the country, Resolute Support, to train and assist the Afghan security forces.
Afghanistan has been experiencing significant political, social and security-related instability for decades, as terrorist organizations, including Daesh and the Taliban, continue to stage attacks against civilian and military targets.
