Rick Rozoff, the manager of the Stop NATO International Network, said in an interview with Press TV from Chicago that the United States used Afghanistan as a “testing and battle ground” in order to integrate the armies of several countries fighting under the banner of the NATO military alliance.

The commentator said the US-led forces were now being redeployed in a number of countries such as Finland, Poland, Lithuania and Georgia in order to contain Russian influence in Eastern Europe.

Rozoff also noted that the US presence in Afghanistan has “fueled terrorism” and “increased opium production” in the troubled region.

Several militant groups now fueling violence in the region were previously “trained and funded” by Americans during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, he added.

He said the US-led forces have never been interested in preserving the “national sovereignty” and “territorial integrity” of Afghanistan

He suggested that countries such as Iran, China, India, Pakistan and central Asian states could play a positive role in “maintaining the peace and stability” across the troubled region. 

The commentator concluded by saying that the “US has been part of the problem, not the solution,” in Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, Frederick Peterson, a congressional defense policy advisor and another guest participating in the debate on Press TV, defended the US record on the Afghan war.

Peterson said the US forces have been assisting Afghans in order “to preserve their freedom and independence” and tackle the ongoing violence and “lawlessness.”

The US has said it will keep an extra 1000 troops in Afghanistan in 2015 after the planned withdrawal from the war-torn country. That will take the number of the US troops in Afghanistan to 10,800 after the partial withdrawal.