THIS is with reference to the report “Taliban tell US not to ‘destablise’ government in Kabul” (Oct 10). On the first day of talks with a United States team led by Deputy Special Representative Tom West and top United States Agency for International Development (USAID) humanitarian official Sarah Charles, Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi gave a timely and blunt advice to the US to stay away from efforts to destabilise the region, and warned at the same time that there will be no cooperation with Washington on containing the Islamic State (IS) threat.

After the recent disclosure in the declassified US State Department documents, it was frustrating and shocking that keeping the region and the Middle East in turmoil and destabilised was, and still is, the cornerstone of the US foreign policy.

Interestingly, there is general consensus among the US legislators that such a policy is suitable for the US to pursue its goal of global domination. Declassified papers went on to disclose that Pakistan was the ‘lucky country’ marked to benefit the most from these policies.

After the remarkably embarrassing US withdrawal from Afghanistan, it is high time the US State Department policymakers revisited the policy of keeping the region deliberately destabilised before initiating major regional realignments. One hopes that after the horrible ‘planned withdrawal’ from Afghanistan and subsequent confusion, the US will live and let the region live in peace. It is worth having the hope even if it is a case of hoping against hope.

Abid Mahmud Ansari
Islamabad

Published in Dawn, October 22nd, 2021