
KARACHI -- When U.S. defense official David Helvey told the Senate that the Pentagon was exploring the possibility of basing U.S. forces in neighboring countries to provide over-the-horizon counterterrorism support to the Afghan government, he stirred debate in Pakistan, which has provided similar arrangements to the U.S. in the past, and caused some experts to wonder whether such a scenario might alter the U.S.'s position on China's Belt and Road Initiative.