From the BBC:
“US says troops to leave
Afghanistan by 11 September”
US President Joe Biden is set to
announce that American troops will leave Afghanistan by 11 September, officials
have told US media. The US would miss a May deadline for a pull-out agreed with
the Taliban by the Trump administration last year. The new deadline would
coincide with the 20th anniversary of the terror attacks on the World Trade
Center and the Pentagon in the US in 2001. Mr Biden had previously said the 1
May deadline would be tough to meet. US and Nato officials have said the
Taliban, a hardline Islamist movement, have so far failed to live up to
commitments to reduce violence.
The Taliban have been warned that
if they attack US troops during the pull-out phase, they "will be met with
a forceful response", said a senior administration official who was
briefing reporters. Mr Biden had decided a hasty withdrawal that would put US
forces at risk was not a viable option, the official added. At the same time, a
review of US choices determined that now was the time to close the book on the
20-year conflict in Afghanistan to focus on more acute threats. Mr Biden is due
to make the announcement himself on Wednesday. Many here will see this decision
as a boost to the Taliban, despite it being a breach of the 1 May deadline the
insurgents have insisted is adhered to. It seems unlikely they would now resume
attacks on American forces given the short extension period; nevertheless, the
Taliban reaction so far has been hostile.
Some in the Afghan government had
hoped the new Biden administration would adopt a more
"conditions-based" approach to the peace process. Instead, that has
been explicitly ruled out. The slow pace of talks between Afghan and Taliban
negotiators so far suggests it will be difficult to reach a power-sharing
arrangement before US troops are withdrawn. Perhaps the Taliban's desire for
international legitimacy will lead them to compromise. But many fear the
Taliban will be tempted to wait out the withdrawal, and then push for outright
victory or at least dominance. The Afghan government has until now remained
reliant on US air strikes to help hold the insurgents back. The Taliban said on
Tuesday that it will now not attend a summit on Afghanistan's future, due to be
held in Turkey later this month, until all foreign forces leave the country. "Until
all foreign forces completely withdraw from our homeland, [we] will not
participate in any conference that shall make decisions about
Afghanistan," Mohammad Naeem, spokesman for the Taliban office in Qatar,
tweeted.
US Secretary of State Anthony
Blinken and US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin are expected to brief Nato allies
on the decision in the Belgian capital, Brussels, on Wednesday. The United States has spent trillions of
dollars and lost more than 2,000 service members since 2001 in what has been
its longest war. The deal signed in February last year said the US and its Nato
allies would withdraw all troops in 14 months if the Taliban upheld its
promises, including not allowing al-Qaeda or other militants to operate in
areas it controlled and proceeding with national peace talks. As a condition of
starting negotiations with the Afghan government, the Taliban also demanded the
release of thousands of their men in a prisoner swap. Direct talks then began
in Doha in September 2020, but a breakthrough has still not been reached.
The Afghan war: The short and
long story Although the group
stopped attacks on international forces as part of the historic agreement, it
has continued to fight the Afghan government. Last month, the Taliban
threatened to resume hostilities against foreign troops still in the country on
1 May. There are fears that if foreign military forces withdraw before a
lasting agreement is reached, the Taliban might seize power. The US has some
2,500 troops in the country as part of a 9,600-strong Nato mission.
US military involvement in
Afghanistan
October 2001: US-led
bombing of Afghanistan begins following the 11 September attacks on the United
States
February 2009: Nato
countries pledge to increase military and other commitments in Afghanistan
after US announces dispatch of 17,000 extra troops
December 2009: US
President Barack Obama decides to boost US troop numbers in Afghanistan by
30,000, bringing total to 100,000. He says US will begin withdrawing its forces
by 2011
October 2014: The US and
UK end their combat operations in Afghanistan
March 2015: President
Obama announces his country will delay its troop withdrawal from Afghanistan,
following a request from President Ashraf Ghani
October 2015: President
Obama announces that 9,800 US troops will remain in Afghanistan until the end
of 2016, backtracking on an earlier pledge to pull all but 1,000 troops from the
country
July 2016: President Obama
says 8,400 US troops will remain in Afghanistan into 2017 in light of the
"precarious security situation". Nato also agrees to maintain troop
numbers and reiterates a funding pledge for local security forces until 2020
August 2017: US President
Donald Trump says he's sending more troops to fight a resurgent Taliban
September 2019: Protracted
peace talks between the Taliban and the US break down
February 2020: After
months of on-off talks, the US signs a troop withdrawal agreement in Doha with
the Taliban
^ On the one hand I would like to
see all American Troops leave Afghanistan since they have been in harm’s way (wounded
and killed) for 20 years now. On the other hand I also know that once the
Americans leave Afghanistan the Taliban will simply come back into power and go
backing to beating and killing minorities and women again. ^
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