AFP-Sep, 29,2014 – Prime Minister Narendra Modi warned the United States Monday not to repeat its “mistake” in Iraq by pulling out of Afghanistan too quickly.
Modi said US forces had forged “stability” in Afghanistan that had helped the country “march” towards “a good result.”
“But we have requested America … please do not repeat the mistake that you made in Iraq,” Modi said at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York.
“Because after such a rapid withdrawal in Iraq, and what happened there, the withdrawal process in Afghanistan should be very slow. Let it stand on its own, and only then can you stop the Taliban lifting its head there,” Modi’s remarks came on the day on which Afghanistan’s new government indicated that it would sign a bilateral security agreement with the United States that will allow a residual NATO force to remain behind when Western combat operations end in the country before the end of the year.
Under the deal, the US deployment in Afghanistan will be scaled back to around 9,800 by the start of 2015.
Those forces will be halved by the end of 2015 before being reduced to a normal embassy presence by the end of 2016.
