Pushing an agenda

This refers to the news report, ‘Pak, Russia, Iran pursuing their own agendas in Afghanistan: US General’ (February 13). The US general implies that he expects Pakistan, Iran and Russia to advance the American agenda instead of their own.         

By luring the Russians into Afghanistan in order to avenge the humiliation in Vietnam, the US has been guilty of making Afghanistan the mess it has become. And even now, the US is hardly interested in creating peace in Afghanistan because then that would make its presence in the country unnecessary and unwanted. This will be difficult for the US to do since it wants to  remain in Afghanistan and keep an eye on China and others. However, Pakistan, Russia, Iran (and China), being neighbours, are genuinely interested in creating and maintaining peace in Afghanistan in order to bring about stability in the entire region.

S R H Hashmi

Karachi