US delegation meets CDF Munir, acknowledges Pakistan's 'longstanding role, sacrifices' during Afghan war

US delegation meets CDF Munir, acknowledges Pakistan's 'longstanding role, sacrifices' during Afghan war

A delegation of America’s Afghanistan War Commission called on Chief of Defence Forces (CDF) and Chief of the Army Staff Field Marshal Asim Munir on Monday and acknowledged Pakistan’s “longstanding role and sacrifices during the conflict in Afghanistan”, according to the military’s media affairs wings. The visiting delegation also appreciated Pakistan’s continued contribution to regional peace and stability, the Inter-Services Public Relations said in a statement. The delegation, led by its co-chairs, Shamila N. Chaudhary and Dr Colin F Jackson, met CDF Munir at General Headquarters (GHQ) in Rawalpindi. “The delegation is undertaking a review of the United States’ 20-year engagement in Afghanistan,” the statement said, adding that its discussion with the military chief covered topics including “Pakistan’s support, the regional security environment and developments in Afghanistan, with focus on perspectives relevant to the commission’s work”. For his part, CDF Munir shared Pakistan’s perspective on the security dynamics that shaped the conflict, also highlighting the challenges the country faced during the prolonged US engagement in Afghanistan. The ISPR statement added that he highlighted the need to incorporate a regional perspective, as well as Pakistan’s experience in assessing the strategic, diplomatic and operational dimensions of the conflict. The US Congress established the Afghanistan War Commission in 2021 as an independent body to review US decisions pertaining to the war in Afghanistan from June 2001 to August 2021, according to the commission’s website. US forces had withdrawn from Afghanistan in Aug 2021, ending a 20-year war. The withdrawal was completed a minute before midnight on Aug 30, 2021. The US had launched a military intervention in Afghanistan following the Sept 11, 2001, attacks, ushering in two decades of conflict in which civilians suffered widespread violence and abuses. Some 800,000 US servicemembers served in Afghanistan during this period. During the war, 2,238 US servicemembers died and nearly 21,000 were wounded. Meanwhile, over 40,000 civilians were killed and 77,000 wounded in attacks by Taliban insurgents, the Islamic State (IS) group, and in operations by the armed forces of the Afghan Republic or the international coalition led by the US, according to the United Nations mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA). Independent estimates put the total number of Afghan security forces and civilians killed at more than 100,000. A detailed report in The Wall Street Journal in 2022 showed that since Sept 11, 2001, US military outsourcing had pushed up Pentagon spending to $14 trillion. One-third to half of that sum went to contractors.