US insisted on failed nation-building, Western model in Afghanistan: Former CENTCOM commander

ANKARA  Frank McKenzie, a former top general who led US Central Command from 2019 to April 2022, has said that Washington engaged in failed nation-building in Afghanistan and insisted on a Western model for the country which was wrong. "We began to engage in nation-building operations and maybe some of that was necessary in a narrower sense to protect our interests but the broader things we did probably ultimately in the long term didn't help us. They diffused our efforts," McKenzie told NBC News on Friday. "I don't know that Afghanistan is governable or sustainable with a Western model. I know that Afghanistan is governable and sustainable from an Afghan model. But we paid too little attention to Afghan realities on the ground," he said. McKenzie said that overlooking the Afghan reality was costly and was a "hubris on our part, and on the international community." He went on to say that he was "proud of" American men and women on the ground on the day of the controversial withdrawal from Afghanistan, when Afghans died trying to hold on to the plane. He said that the fact it was a highly politicized event was "regrettable." McKenzie admitted that getting Afghan allies out of the country is a very "slow" process but did not promise anything on that "moral obligation." The top general agreed that Afghanistan was a bipartisan failure for four US administrations in two decades and added that it was a combination of "military and diplomatic failures." Stressing that the war-torn country is still a breeding ground for threats to the US, he said it is still too early to say what is going to happen in Afghanistan. Extremist groups protected by the Taliban will pose new dangers for future US leadership, he said. The US declared the completion of the Afghanistan pullout Aug, 30, 2021, ending the 20-year war.   Pakistan was right He said the Taliban always had a haven in Pakistan and the US was never able to resolve that in the two decades of the conflict or come to an agreement with Pakistan on the issue. The reason was because the "Pakistanis never believed that we would stay, always thought that we would leave," he said, adding, “You know that? They were right, we left."
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Lt Gen Asif Ghafoor appointed corps commander Quetta

Lt Gen Asif Ghafoor. — Twitter 

• Lt Gen Asif Ghafoor was appointed in place of his predecessor Lt Gen Sarfraz Ali 
• Lt Gen Sarfraz Ali was martyred in a helicopter crash Tuesday.
• Lt Gen Asif Ghafoor previously served as the director-general of the ISPR.

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Former director-general of the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Lieutenant General Asif Ghafoor has been appointed Corps Commander Quetta, Geo News reported Wednesday citing the military's media wing. 

According to the ISPR, Lt Gen Ghafoor has been appointed to replace his predecessor, Lt Gen Sarfraz Ali who — along with five other Pakistan Army personnel — embraced martyrdom on Tuesday after an aviation helicopter of the army had crashed in Balochistan.

The military chopper had gone missing as it was en route from Quetta to Karachi at around 5:30pm Tuesday evening. The personnel in the chopper were overseeing the flood relief efforts in the southwest of the country.

Above normal monsoon rains and deadly flooding have hit Pakistan hard this year, killing hundreds of people so far and wreaking havoc, particularly in Balochistan.

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Pakistan army helicopter with top commander on board goes missing

The helicopter was on a rescue and relief mission in the flood-affected southwestern Balochistan province, Pakistan's military says.

The fate of its six-member crew, including a top commander, was not immediately known. (Reuters)

A Pakistani army helicopter flying in a rescue and relief mission in the country's flood-stricken southwest has lost contact with a regional control tower and was missing, the military said.

The fate of its six-member crew, including a top commander, was not immediately known.

The military said on Monday a search was under way for the aircraft, without saying whether it had crashed. 

The regional commander on board, Lt. Gen. Sarfraz Ali, was supervising relief operations in the flood-affected southwest.

The development came hours after authorities said flash floods triggered by heavy monsoon rains have killed 140 more people over the past week. 

The fatalities raised the overall death toll from rain-related incidents since June to 478 in Pakistan.

READ MORE: Heavy flooding caused by monsoon rains in Pakistan kills dozens

Rescue workers backed by the military have evacuated thousands of marooned people, including women and children, from the southwestern Balochistan province, in the northwest and elsewhere since last week, when the government deployed helicopters to expand ongoing relief and rescue operations.

Deluges have completely destroyed or damaged nearly 37,000 homes in the flood-hit areas since June 14, according to a report released by the National Disaster and Management Authority.

On Monday, Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif visited Balochistan, and in a televised speech promised financial support to those who have lost their homes in the floods. 

More rains are expected this week in Pakistan, where the monsoon season runs from July through September.

READ MORE: Monsoon rains leave dozens dead in Pakistan

Source: TRTWorld and agencies

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