WASHINGTON, October 29 (RIA Novosti) – The United States will keep a small part of its forces in Afghanistan to have an opportunity to keep an eye on Russia, Iran, Pakistan and China, the president of a think tank focused on nonmilitary solutions for Afghanistan told RIA Novosti.
"Afghanistan used to be a "buffer state" and will now be transformed into an "observation tower." It is in a perfect strategic location for the United States to monitor nuclear Iran, nuclear Pakistan, Russia and China," Khalil Nouri, President of the New World Strategies Coalition Inc., said on Thursday.
Nouri added that despite the plans to extract all troops from Afghanistan by the end of 2016, the United States will leave some forces for the "long haul" because totally abandoning Afghanistan will leave a security vacuum.
"Afghan security forces are still weak and may not be able to defend against the [Taliban] insurgency if all foreign troops leave prematurely," the expert stated.
US Marine and UK combat forces officially ended military operations in Afghanistan, the US Department of Defense announced on Sunday.
Following a 13-year war, aimed at dismantling the al-Qaeda terrorist network, US President Barack Obama said in May that US forces would be completely withdrawn from Afghanistan by the end of 2016 and a residual force of 9,800 would assist Afghan security forces at the beginning of 2015.
