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Army Chiefs Meet To Boost Coordination In Fighting Terror
From Tolonews
16-02-2018 - The army chiefs of Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Pakistan, Kyrgyzstan, Afghanistan and the Resolute Support commander discussed ways to fight terror and prevent the infiltration of terrorists into Afghanistan at a conference in Kabul this week.A Resolute Support mission spokesman said the meeting, which was held on Monday and Tuesday, will boost coordination between the countries in fighting terrorism in Afghanistan.
“Partnership (is needed) on this issue because if there isn’t mutual coordination and or regular conversations, those things to ensure that we secure the borders, one of the things that we talked about in South Asia policy, is to deter enablement from across the borders so that there are more terrorists coming into this nation attacking the citizens and the people of Afghanistan and so a meeting like this is one where military leaders coordinate how they are going to prevent those things from continuing to happen,” said Kone Faulkner, deputy spokesman for Resolute Support mission.
The Afghan Ministry of Defense meanwhile assured delegates at the meeting of the pressure mounted on Islamabad and said the continuance of such meetings will benefit Afghanistan’s security.
“They all (the participants of the meeting) accepted that terrorism is a threat, a threat for the region, for the participant countries and for the world.
Therefore, all the countries have accepted this. It is political pressure on Pakistan. Pakistan has always promised but has not delivered it. It has always promised but has not done it in practice,” Defense Ministry Dawlat Waziri said.
“Politicians’ meeting are not as fruitful as military officials meetings. When they (military leaders) sit and talk, they are strict people. Therefore, I think this meeting was a big and a major strike to Pakistan,” former military official Atiqullah Amarkhail said.
The Resolute Support said in a statement on Wednesday that senior military leaders from Central and South Asian nations and the United States gathered to discuss security issues affecting the region during the conference in Kabul.
Pakistan’s army chief said in a statement that the delegates agreed on the need for regional cooperation for peace in Afghanistan.
The statement said Pakistan’s army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa said stability in the region is dependent on stability in Afghanistan.
According to Resolute Support, the event afforded leaders the opportunity to meet in person and identify opportunities to protect and promote regional security and stability, as well as securing lasting peace for Afghanistan.
“We in the international community are here to support all Afghans," said General John Nicholson, Commander of the NATO-led Resolute Support Mission and Commander of the United States Forces in Afghanistan. "We have the shared interest of preventing Afghanistan from ever again becoming a safe haven for terrorism.”
Key themes throughout the conference were the Afghan National Defence and Security Forces’ (ANDSF) enhanced capabilities and their full security responsibility to fight against terrorist organizations within its borders, the statement said. Because of the continued growth of the ANDSF, the Taliban didn't achieve a single stated battlefield objective last year.
In the face of this increased pressure from the stronger Afghan National Defense and Security Forces and US combat power supporting them, continued Nicholson, "the Taliban cannot win."
Chiefs of defense also reiterated their commitment to fighting terrorism throughout the region, and discussed ways of working together to counter drug trafficking and other cross-border security concerns.
This week's conference is the first such conference since the US announced its new South Asia Strategy, which encouraged a regional and partnered approach to security challenges and gave US forces new authorities to fight terror.
One example of this strategy in action is the recent bombing of Taliban training camps in Badakhshan by US Air Force B-52 Stratofortresses, the statement said.
Those training camps supported planning and staging of terrorist activities by the East Turkestan Islamic Movement, a terrorist organization with roots in the ethnic Uighur separatist groups in western China. They pose a threat to China and enjoy support from the Taliban in Badakhshan and throughout the border region.
"There will be no safe haven for any terrorist group," said Nicholson. "We continue to strike them wherever we find them. We continue to hunt them across the country."
Recent operations by the ANDSF have shown successes in rooting out terrorism and preventing terrorists from killing innocent Afghans. US airstrikes have gone after terrorist support networks and degraded their ability to plan attacks in Afghanistan or across the borders with Afghanistan's neighbors, the statement said.
Over the winter, Afghan Commandos pushed Daesh seven kilometers from their positions in Mohmand Valley, allowing residents to return to their homes and farms, as well as degrading IS-K's ability to plan high-profile attacks on innocent people such as the recent attacks in Kabul and Jalalabad, the statement read.
Afghan National Army 215th Corps stopped two suicide bombers before they managed to carry out deadly car bomb attacks during offensive operations in Helmand province in January. The Maiwand series of operations in Helmand, conducted by the ANDSF and supported by US Marine Corps advisors with Task Force Southwest, have denied the enemy safe haven and freedom of movement since 2017, read the statement.
“The enemy is powerless against us, they can't fight us face to face anymore. They just bury IEDs and commit suicide (attacks). They are very limited in their capabilities; they commit suicide because they can't fight anymore," said Major Taj Mohammad Begharaz, the 215th Corps' tactical operations center chief, using an acronym for improvised explosive devices.
//www.tolonews.com/afghanistan/army-chiefs-meet-boost-coordination-fighting-terror
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