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The US Department of Defense has began planning a full withdrawal from Afghanistan by May 2021.
This was announced by David Helvey, the official performing the duties of assistant secretary of Defense for Indo-Pacific security affairs when speaking to the House Oversight and Reform Subcommittee on National Security at a hearing.
According to him, the Pentagon has begun “prudent planning” on having 0 troops left in Afghanistan by mid-year 2021.
“I’d like to make it clear that [Defense Secretary Mark Esper] has not issued orders to reduce military personnel below this 4,000 to 5,000 level in Afghanistan, although we are conducting prudent planning to withdraw to zero service members by May 2021 if conditions warrant, per the U.S.-Taliban agreement,” Helvey said.
This announcement came as US President Donald Trump is praising that there would be drawdowns in the region and he’s delivering on promises he’s made as part of his campaign for the upcoming presidential elections in November 2020.
Officials said they expect to be at about 4,500 troops in Afghanistan by November.
The comments also come as the Taliban and Afghan government have started peace talks in Doha, Qatar, aimed at ending the 19-year war.
But the two sides remain far apart on issues as basic as a cease-fire and women’s rights.
The withdrawal is being planned, but at the same time the US said that the Taliban group is slow on delivering on their counterterrorism commitments.
“The Taliban has still not shown conclusively that they’re going to break with al Qaeda,” Gen. Frank McKenzie, the commander of U.S. Central Command, said earlier this month. “So there are still some things out there that concern me about the Taliban’s either ability or willingness to comply with all the terms of the deal.”
On September 22nd, Zalmay Khalilzad, the US envoy for the Afghan peace talks, said the Taliban has taken “positive steps” toward breaking with al Qaeda, though he said the Taliban has more work to do and would not answer a question in an unclassified setting on whether Taliban leaders have instructed their fighters to break from the terrorist group.
“We look for more steps before we are satisfied, and I believe that once we reach 4,500, we’d do an evaluation of ties and actions that they have taken and make decisions based on that,” Khalilzad said at the hearing.
Khalilzad said that “by any measure, current levels of violence are too high,” adding that “we know that reductions are possible.”
US Senators appear to be critical of the US-Taliban deal, saying that the group can’t be trusted.
“Despite multiple indications that the Taliban have not fully met their commitments under the February agreement, the Trump administration has steadily withdrawn U.S. forces from Afghanistan, which has ceded much of our leverage to help shape the future of Afghanistan for its people and our national security interests,” said Rep. Stephen Lynch, chairman of the subcommittee.
“While we are all eager for our sons and daughters in uniform to return home, it is also important that we do not needlessly or recklessly bargain away the rights and freedoms that the Afghan people have gained at such a huge cost in American, Coalition, and Afghan lives,” he added.
In response, Helvey said that the withdrawal in May 2021 would be “fundamentally conditions based.”
“We’ll be watching very carefully to assess the conditions of Taliban compliance with the terms of its agreement, and that will be used to inform decisions on further and future withdrawals,” he said.
Khalilzad also said that if the Taliban didn’t uphold their end of the deal, the US was freed from its own commitments.
“That’s why I say it’s conditions-based,” he said. “That means if they don’t deliver on their commitments, we don’t have to withdraw forces. We could adjust our force posture. Those are decisions that our management will have to make.”
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Except they will leave the private military and moderate terrorists to watch the rich opium plantations.
Talibs will take out those trolls fast. Have you looked at the map? Talibs control 60% of the country eventho the Afghan govt has a never ending supply of U.S. weapons , sat intel, drones, air strikes, spec ops teams, imagine if you take all that away. I givebthe cia colonial puppet govt 6 months tops after the U.S. is gone.
During Soviet invasion, Red Army controlled only 20% of Afghan teritory.
I doubt that.
But you don’t doubt Russian bases in Cuba, so it’s ok.
Nope, nope backy sit sit down! Its NOT ok.
before jihadist came, afghan government control 100% 0f afghanistan, before soviet left they are still in control of almost 80% of whole afghan
There was infight between Afghan government and remote trybes, they managed to overthrow the Soviet backed government and that triggered the invasion. So no, the government didn’t control 100% of the country at all.
pretty sure there will be few bases left behind
CIA bases for opium extraction… Lets see how it will go down, didn’t work out in Nam…
Opium is for noobs anyway
Vietnam is not suitable for mass production, but I heard Afghans learned kicking US butt after an easy ride over commies from a certain country:)))
Nam produced enough to supply whole Europe and the U.S. There is even a good movie about it, French Connection, starring Gene Hackman. Nobody could beat Afghans since Alexander the Great. They are battle hardened, and the terrain is aiding them, instead of jungles you have high altitude, mountains, tunnel systems. And there is no objectives you can reach, you can only bomb rubble moving dirt from point A to point B. These people can live basically off of nothing, are tribal and know every trick about assymetric warfare you can think of they have learnd in hundreds of years. Maybe the U.S. together with the Soviets would have managed it, but the U.S. was dumb, still is. At least Russia was smart enough to pull out after 9 years instead of staying for 20 like the U.S.
Soviets couldn’t afford to stay there for 20years, hence they collapsed, since there was no money. Im telling you man, green is all its all about
U.S. cant afford it either. They are worse off than the Soviets were when they collapsed. Difference is Russians were more based and less arogant.
ahahaha. good one
?
Lets just say, US can handle more the afghan kush than soviet did.
Not really. They are only less reasonable aka dumb…
if you think its the US who’s only pouring money into Afg for its mission you are seriously misinformed.
ISAF is the key word. All of Europe, Australia and Canada et all, you can definitely manage 20 years of military stay.
Opium is only a small part of why they are there.
Same will happen as in 1996. Talibs will grind and grind and erode govt forces till they take the capital. Its delusional to think they will respect any agreements, same as the U.S. doesnt…
When we say something we mean it.
your best jokes are never funny
U.S. to withdraw from Afghanistan by may 2021, if…..
https://twitter.com/nukesn_missiles/status/1298683809207066625?s=20