Kabul: Afghan government has strongly rejected the idea of establishing permanent US military bases in Afghanistan.
Chief presidential spokesman Waheed Omar said on Monday that the issue has never been discussed in meetings between officials of the two countries.
“We have announced earlier that we are in touch with United States on the issue of long-term strategic partnership but not on the possible establishment of a permanent US base in Afghanistan,” he said.
The stated this after a senior congressman called for permanent US military bases in the war-ravaged country.
Senator Lindsay Graham on Sunday said, American air bases in the war-torn country would benefit the US and its Western allies, if maintained by the US military.
“We have had air bases all over the world and a couple of air bases in Afghanistan would allow the Afghan security forces an edge against the Taliban in perpetuity,” Graham, the Republican senator from South Carolina, said.
“It would be a signal to Pakistan that the Taliban are never going to come back. In Afghanistan they could change their behavior. It would be a signal to the whole region that Afghanistan is going to be a different place.”
About 150,000 NATO troops are currently fighting in Afghanistan with plans to stay in the country beyond 2014.
General David Petraeus, Commander of the US and NATO forces in Afghanistan, has recently indicated that the Western military alliance will increase its operations along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.
Analysts say the US is looking for an excuse to expand its military operations in the troubled south and central Asian regions to secure bases near Russia and China.
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