Kabul: The United States Defence Secretary Robert Gates on Monday said that America was not seeking to establish permanent military bases in Afghanistan.
Pentagon Chief Robert Gates, who is expected to retire at the end of this month, remarked that the issue of such bases in the country “considerably” depends on the condition on the ground, an Afghan TV channel reported.
The bases that belonged to one country and another country are always a magnet for trouble, he said, added that, they could have joint bases, if they could be a tenet with Afghan security forces so it’s an Afghan base where we were providing assistance and have some presence. In his views, those bases and where those joint facilities ought to be will depend on to a considerable stand on the circumstances in the country as we get closer to 2014.
To a question regarding why relations between Kabul and Washington go murky, Gates said it’s because the United States has not been attentive enough to demands suggested by the Afghan President Hamid Karzai.
He also believed that the US was experiencing a delicate and difficult relation with Pakistan at the moment. He said Pakistan “have helped in terms of the situation here by clearing Swat, by clearing South Waziristan. But there are still sanctuaries in Pakistan we all know that, the Pakistanis know that.”
“Afghan government and we have to just keep working with the Pakistani government in terms of getting these sanctuaries eliminated.” The US will continue to support the Afghan government in different aspects and it will also make efforts to improve relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan.
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