The Afghan government on Tuesday called for clarity on US President Donald Trump’s statement who said he could win the war in Afghanistan in a matter of days but he does not want to kill 10 million people.
“If we wanted to fight a war in Afghanistan and win it, I could win that war in a week. I just don’t want to kill 10 million people,” Trump said. “If I wanted to win that war, Afghanistan would be wiped off the face of the Earth, it would be gone, it would be over in, literally, in 10 days.”
“I don’t want to go that route,” Trump said of a military plan of that magnitude. “So we’re working with Pakistan and others to extricate ourselves. Nor do we want to be policemen, because basically, we’re policemen right now. And we’re not supposed to be policemen.”
Trump met with Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan on Monday and discussed Pakistan’s assistance with bringing end to the nearly 20-year conflict.
The Presidential Palace in a statement said that “the Afghan nation has not and will not allow any foreign power to decide on their fate”.
“Our relationship and cooperation with the world, particularly with the United States, is based on mutual interests and mutual respect,” the statement said. “We support the US efforts for bringing peace to Afghanistan but the main fate of the country cannot be determined in foreign leaders’ meeting in the absence of Afghans leadership. Our Afghanistan will remain in the world’s political arena with strength.”
The statement said that the Afghan government wants clarity on Trump’s remarks through diplomatic channels considering the mutual relations between the two countries.
