News From Antiwar.com
The U.S. State Department announced on July 16 that Washington has formed what has been characterized as a regional platform – could one be more vague? – with Afghanistan, Pakistan and Uzbekistan.
Uzbekistan is a member of NATO’s Partnership for Peace military program and Afghanistan and Pakistan are members of the military alliance’s Partners Across the Globe. The U.S. of course is the founder and unchallenged master of the bloc.
Pakistan has hosted U.S. military personnel, equipment and spy planes since the beginning of the Cold War, and during that period was known as “America’s most allied ally in Asia.” It is one of the U.S.’s Major non-NATO Allies and was the recipient of $12 billion in U.S. military aid from 2002-2011.