THIS refers to the report ‘Three miscalculations shot down US plan for orderly withdrawal: NYT’ (Aug 23), which quoted a New York Times report to the effect that the United States made three major miscalculations which led to the debacle in Afghanistan.

The first of the three miscalculations was the Americans’ notion that they had the luxury to take their own time to withdraw. The second was that their military commanders overestimated the will or the motivation of the Afghan forces to fight. The third miscalculation was that the US put too much faith in Ashraf Ghani who fled.

But there is a ‘fourth’ miscalculation as well; the American favourite ‘strategic partner’, India, chickened out when its much-touted ‘strategic partnership’ was put to test. It should be a matter of serious concern for the US that Pentagon’s estimations have consistently proven wrong.

This record of failures indicates two possibilities; either Pentagon always tries to toe its president’s line, or its information-gathering system is flawed. It is obvious that the US should re-evaluate India as a ‘strategic partner’.

Abid Mahmud Ansari
Islamabad

Published in Dawn, August 26th, 2021