WASHINGTON - At its national convention in Tampa, Florida, next week, the Republican Party is all set to seek a “crackdown on corruption” from the Afghan government and Pakistan to “sever any connection” between its security and intelligence agencies and terrorist outfits.

The draft of the party platform to be adopted at the Republican National Convention next week says that a Republican president at the White House would never set an artificial timetable for withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan.

Approved by Foreign Policy and Defense Sub-committee of the Republican Party Platform Committee this week, the draft, a copy of which was obtained by Pajhwok Afghan News – says that Afghans, Pakistanis and Americans have a common interest in “ridding” the region of the Taliban and other insurgent groups, but “we cannot expect others to remain resolute unless we show the same determination ourselves”.

The Foreign Policy sub-committee is headed by Jim Talent, the former US Senator from Missouri, and a senior advisor to Mitt Romney, the Republican presidential candidate. The four-day convention would formally declare Romney as its nominee for November 6 presidential elections.

“We will expect the Afghan government to crackdown on corruption, respect free elections, and assist our fight against the narcotic trade that fuels the insurgency,” said the draft platform, which is considered as the part’s manifesto.

“We must likewise expect Pakistan government to sever any connection between its security and intelligence forces and the insurgents. No Pakistani citizen should be punished for helping the United States against the terrorists,” the platform says in an apparent reference to the 30-year imprisonment to Dr Shakeel Afridi, the Pakistani physician who helped CAI trace Osama bin Laden.

The draft platform notes that the decade long American war in Afghanistan and Iraq has put enormous pressure on the political and military infrastructure of Pakistan, which faces both internal terrorism and external dangers. “The working relationship between our two countries is necessary, though sometimes difficult, benefit to both, and we look toward the renewal of historic ties that have frayed under the weight of international conflict,” the platform says.

“The imminent withdrawal from Afghanistan of the 30,000 “surge” troops sent there two years ago comes weeks before this year’s presidential election and against the advice of the President’s top military commanders,” it notes. “Future decisions by a Republican president will never subordinate military necessity to domestic politics or an artificial timetable,” the Republican platform said. (Pajhwok)