Amid concerns over possible fallout of the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in Jammu and Kashmir, US Congressman Michael Waltz has said the insurgent group’s links to Lashkar-e-Taiba could create serious militancy issues in the Union Territory.
Over the past several weeks, top diplomats and defense experts have raised concerns that the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan could impact the security situation in Jammu and Kashmir, owing to the insurgent group’s close ties to Pakistan’s ISI and regional militant outfits. Now, lending further credence to these apprehensions, US Congressman Michael Waltz has said a resurgent Taliban means an escalation of militancy-related violence in the Union Territory.
In an exclusive interview with India Today TV, Michael Waltz, a Republican representing Florida’s 6th Congressional District, said that with the Taliban in power in Afghanistan, “there will be Al Qaeda 3.0. The Taliban-Lashkar-e-Taiba links will create serious militancy issues in Kashmir.”
Waltz, a former Green Beret who served in Afghanistan, also made the oft-repeated claim that Pakistan was tacitly supporting the hardline Islamist group.
He also rued the strategic losses which the US had encountered with the pullout from Afghanistan. “Evacuating Bagram Airbase… US has lost a huge strategic space to China and Russia,” he added.
With inputs from India Today