NEW YORK – Outgoing US Secretary of State John Kerry has said that Pakistan was among the key countries in which the United States built state-of-the-art tactical security operations centers.
In a 21-page exit memo, the top US diplomat also named Afghanistan and Iraq among the countries where the Obama administration constructed such centers. Kerry kept mum in his memo about the whereabouts of those centers and how they were operated.
The memo only says that “we have constructed state-of-the-art tactical security operations centres in key countries, such as Afghanistan, Iraq, and Pakistan.”
Secretary Kerry noted in the memo that Afghanistan and Pakistan were Al Qaeda strongholds when the Obama administration took charge but in the last eight years, the group’s core leadership in these two countries had ‘decimated’ and its chief, Osama bin Laden, eliminated.
Kerry admitted that Afghanistan was from from perfect, despite the fact that US entered there as early as 2001.
“Afghanistan is far from perfect, and it will take sustained engagement and effort in the years ahead to protect the progress we’ve made,” he warned.
“We must continue to support the Afghan people as they work to build a secure and peaceful future in the months and years ahead,” he added.
The exit memo, which summarises the Obama administration’s foreign policy achievements, also includes tips for the president-elect Donald Trump such as keeping the nuclear accord with Iran, continuing efforts for a two-state solution in the Middle East and to remain engaged in the fight against the militant Islamic State group.
Barack Obama is all set to leave the White House after serving for 8 long years as US president. Real estate tycoon Donald Trump will be taking charge of presidency on January 20 and with that, US is expected to reorganize the basic framework of foreign policy.
