Source : Op India
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| Republican politician Bob Lancia |
Bob Lancia, US Congress candidate for Rhode Island, has said that the United States’ failed exit from Afghanistan had much to do with not having India as a partner. The former Navy chaplain has expressed that ‘things could have gone differently’ had America partnered with India during its withdrawal from Afghanistan. The Republican politician said that US would have to depend on “unreliable and double game playing Pakistan”, if Balochistan was independent and if Gilgit-Baltistan was in India.
Bob Lancia is a member of the Republican party and a former Member of the Rhode Island House of Representatives. He is contesting in the elections for the United States House of Representatives elections scheduled in November this year from Rhode Island,
As Col. Ralph Peters pointed out in his Congressional testimony, that I previously shared, an independent Balochistan would have provided the US direct access to Afghanistan for supplying our troops without having to rely on Pakistan who was obviously playing a double game, (2/4)
— Bob Lancia (@BobLancia) June 7, 2022
Bob Lancia took to Twitter to focus on India’s strategic location and geopolitical prowess as a player in ensuring the interests of South Asia on the global map. He said that if Balochistan was an independent country, US could have used it for supplying US forces in Afghanistan instead of depending on Pakistan. Lancia wrote, “As Col. Ralph Peters pointed out in his Congressional testimony, an independent Balochistan would have provided the US direct access to Afghanistan for supplying our troops without having to rely on Pakistan who was obviously playing a double game.” It has been testified that arms supplied by the US for Afghanistan could be used by Pakistan’s internal players to create instability in Kashmir.
Bob Lancia added that instead of nurturing Pakistan’s deep pockets an Independent Baloch province would have helped the US to retrieve Afghanistan in the longer run. He said that the US didn’t take much cue from India in analysing the situation. The Republican further said that US toops could have been provided supplies from India also if Gilgit-Baltistan was part of India. He opined, “if the Gilgit-Baltistan region was under the control of India, the US troops in Afghanistan could have received supplies directly from India, a friendly democracy, rather than depending on unreliable and double game playing Pakistan.”
“Indian controlled Gilgit-Baltistan would also be a major blow to America’s number one rival, China, and China’s belts & roads initiative, by denying China direct access to ports on the Arabian Sea,” he wrote. The Gilgit Baltistan region which is currently occupied by Pakistan forces connects the Islamic republic with China, the communist empire with expansionist dreams of its own.
According to Lancia, had the region belonged to India, it would have blocked China’s belt-and-road project directly linking Pakistan. Moreover, this would have helped the US in receiving its military supplies directly in India which were to be used for the Afghan mission.
Indian controlled Gilgit-Baltistan would also be a major blow to America's number 1 rival, China, and China's belts & roads initiative, by denying China direct access to ports on the Arabian Sea… (4/4) @ootzchakra @hindupact @VanShar1 @surinderkauldr @Lancia4Congress
— Bob Lancia (@BobLancia) June 7, 2022
Soon after the US started withdrawing its troops from Afghanistan in March 2020, cities after the other started falling under the rule of Talibani terrorists. The Islamic group occupied Kabul on 15th August last year, following capturing major cities in quick succession in weeks before that day. Taliban has taken over most of the provinces in Afghanistan and has established its government over the people. After the US’s murky withdrawal from Afghanistan was complete, President Joe Biden defended it saying that US’s mission in Afghanistan was never about nation-building or creating unified, centralized democracy but was always about preventing a terrorist attack on US soil.
The USA had invaded Afghanistan in 2001 after the 9/11 terrorist attacks by Al Qaeda. The Afghanistan war lasted 20 years with the US finally giving up the country before the Islamist regime of the Taliban.
