WASHINGTON (INP):Haqqani network continues to pose \u201cgreatest\u201d threat to US troops in Afghanistan, a top US commander based in the war-torn country said in Washington, underlining the terror outfit remains America\u2019s principal concern.
\n\u201cThe Haqqanis still pose the greatest threat to Americans and to our coalition partners and to the Afghans,\u201d General John Nicholson, Commander of US and NATO forces in Afghanistan told reporters during a news conference here Saturday.
\n\u201cThe Haqqanis hold five American citizens hostage right now. I think this is worth remembering as we think about the Haqqani network. They remain a principal concern of ours. And they do enjoy sanctuary inside Pakistan,\u201d Nicholson said during a Pentagon news conference here. Nicholson said he is looking forward to meeting the new Pakistani Chief of Army Staff, General Bajwa. \u201cI\u2019ll meet him upon my return to the region next week,\u201d he said.
\n\u201cThere are many areas of mutual cooperation with the Pakistanis with respect to the border, our joint efforts against terrorism and so forth. So, we\u2019re looking forward to working closely with them going forward,\u201d he said. Nicholson said the Afghan security forces have a hold approximately 64 per cent of the population. This is down slightly from his 68 per cent that he talked about in September.
\n\u201cThe decrease has not meant more control to the Taliban. We see them still holding less than 10 per cent of the population. More of the country , slightly more is now contested. They still hold roughly two-thirds of the population.
\nThe enemy holds less than 10 percent and the balance is contested,\u201d he said. Nicholson said since the start of the Taliban\u2019s campaign in April, the Afghan security forces have prevented them from accomplishing their strategic objectives.
\n\u201cThey\u2019ve been unable to mass because of airpower, both Afghan and coalition airpower, and therefore they resorted to small- scale attacks on checkpoints around cities in attempts to isolate the cities and create panic,\u201d he said.
\nExpressing concern about the stability of the Afghan government going forward, he said his message to Afghan partners and members of the political opposition is that the US respects their political process.
\n\u201cSecond concern would be the malign influence of external actors and particularly Pakistan, Russia, and Iran. We are concerned about the external enablement of the insurgent or terrorist groups inside Afghanistan, in particular where they enjoy sanctuary or support from outside governments,\u201d Nicholson said.
\n\u201cWe are concerned about the convergence of these terrorist groups. I mentioned the 20 groups, 13 in Afghanistan, seven in Pakistan. The morphing of these groups into more virulent strains or the fact that sometimes they cooperate and then the hole becomes greater than the sum of the parts,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
WASHINGTON (INP):Haqqani network continues to pose \u201cgreatest\u201d threat to US troops in Afghanistan, a top US commander based in the war-torn country said in Washington, underlining the terror outfit remains America\u2019s principal concern. \u201cThe Haqqanis still pose the greatest threat to Americans and to our coalition partners and to the Afghans,\u201d General John Nicholson, Commander […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-7449","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n