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March 16th, 2012 
FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda Press TV has interviewed Conn Hallinan, Columnist with Foreign Policy Focus from Berkeley about Leon Panetta’s aggressive statement days after a meeting with Afghan President Karzai who confirmed at that time that no extension would be granted and that he wanted troops out earlier by 2013. What follows is an approximate transcript of the interview.
Press TV: Is it not interesting that Panetta (US Defense Secretary) seems to be forcing an extension of the US mission in Afghanistan while both the Afghan government and people have clearly spoken with one voice that they want an end to any US presence on their soil?
Hallinan: Well it doesn’t surprise me at all. The original idea of the US going into Afghanistan really didn’t have anything to do with 9/11 or for that matter al-Qaeda or the Taliban.
What it had to do with was that the US has always wanted to have a military imprint in Central Asia and obviously Afghanistan is typical for that. Not only does it border Iran and Pakistan, but Central Asia…
And the original plan was to run a gas pipeline from the Caspian Basin across Afghanistan through India and Pakistan. So, I’m not at all surprised that the US has declared that intends to maintain a military presence. Whether they can do so is entirely another matter.
Press TV: In light of the recent incidences that have taken place and which has brought into question the US Afghan mission entirely, how well thought out would any decision to remain in the country longer than needed be not only for the US government, but for its people and its economy?
Hallinan: I can’t imagine that the Afghan government took the position that the US could not continue to maintain a military presence because the US would do so anyhow. I think it depends upon the OK of the Karzai government.
I think the problem here is that if the Karzai government… if there’s going to be a political resolution of the situation in Afghanistan -and everyone agrees that that is the direction things are moving in – then they’re going to have to come to an agreement with the Taliban.
One thing the Taliban is absolutely clear on is that it’s not going to allow any foreign military presence in Afghanistan.
So, for the US to say that it wants to continue to maintain a presence there, essentially what they’re doing is sort of torpedoing any serious negotiation with the Taliban because that’s absolutely a non-starter for the Taliban.
I can’t imagine that Americans would want this war to run on much further in fact most of them want the troops out much earlier than 2014; to bring them out sometime between 2012 and 2013 by the latest.
SC/JR
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