logo

Daily Updated Afghan News Service

  • Home
  • About
  • Opinion
  • Links to More News
  • Good Afghan News
  • Poll Results
  • Afghan Concerts & Events
formats

Afghan Officials Downplay US Troop Reduction Reports

17th November, 2020 · admin 5 Comments

By Ayaz Gul
VOA News
November 17, 2020

ISLAMABAD – Top government officials in Afghanistan are downplaying reports the United States may be planning to withdraw U.S. troops, saying local forces are independently conducting almost all security operations across the country and rely only on a small aerial support from foreign partners.

U.S. media reports say President Donald Trump intends to reduce the number of American troops in Afghanistan to 2,500 from the existing 4,500.  VOA has been unable to confirm the reports and there has been, so far, no official announcement of a U.S. troop drawdown.

On Tuesday, Afghan Defense Minister Asadullah Khalid, while addressing the parliament, attempted to ease growing domestic concerns that an abrupt foreign troop withdrawal from the country would undermine his government’s ability to battle Taliban insurgents.

Khalid noted that currently Afghan security forces carry out 96% of operations against the Taliban on their own and receive four percent aerial support from foreign partners.

The defense minister, however, insisted he did not foresee a complete departure of international forces from Afghanistan.

Speculation about a possible U.S. troop cutback comes as peace talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban have stalled and battlefield violence across the turmoil-hit country have intensified, killing dozens of combatants and non-combatants every day.

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has cautioned Trump against abruptly pulling out of Afghanistan.

“A rapid withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan now would hurt our allies and delight the people who wish us harm. Violence affecting Afghans is still rampant. The Taliban is not abiding by the conditions of the so-called peace deal,” McConnell said in a statement.

He was referring to a peace-building agreement the Trump administration signed with the Taliban in February that requires all U.S. and NATO troops to leave Afghanistan by May 2021. In return, the insurgents are bound to fight terrorism on Afghan soil and negotiate a permanent cease-fire as well as political reconciliation with rival Afghan factions.

“We’d be abandoning our partners in Afghanistan, the brave Afghans who are fighting the terrorists and destroying the government’s leverage in their talks with the Taliban to end the fighting,” McConnell warned.

“Our retreat would embolden the Taliban, especially the deadly Haqqani wing, and risk plunging Afghan women and girls back into what they experienced in the 1990s,” said the U.S. senator while referring to the former Taliban regime in Kabul when women were barred from outdoor activities and girls were not allowed to receive education.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg also warned Tuesday the military alliance could pay a heavy price for leaving Afghanistan “too soon or in an uncoordinated way”. NATO has under 12,000 troops in the war-ravaged country, nearly half of them Americans.

Related

  • Price for Leaving Afghanistan Too Soon Could be ‘Very High’: NATO
  • Afghan acting defense minister ‘not sure’ if peace talks will yield result
  • They grew up under U.S. occupation. What happens when the troops leave?
  • German defense leaders have ‘feelers out’ on sudden US withdrawal from Afghanistan
Posted in Haqqani Network, NATO-Afghanistan, Peace Talks, Security, Taliban, US-Afghanistan Relations | Tags: Assadullah Khalid |
« 1TV Afghanistan Dari News – November 17, 2020
Al-Qaida ‘On the Ropes’ After 2 Decades of War »

5 thoughts on “Afghan Officials Downplay US Troop Reduction Reports”

  1. Samarqandi says:
    November 17, 2020 at 6:07 pm

    Well; then, who
    is
    going
    to
    pay for your dirty services- you are
    in
    big trouble; boy !
    *

  2. Samarqandi says:
    November 17, 2020 at 6:08 pm

    Must find honorable
    ways
    to
    make a living !
    *

  3. Samarqandi says:
    November 17, 2020 at 6:09 pm

    *Afghanistan; belongs
    to
    the
    people
    of
    *Afghanistan, period.
    *

  4. Samarqandi says:
    November 18, 2020 at 1:33 am

    Reductions
    in
    US tax dollar will force
    the
    Crazy Englishman
    to
    seek
    cheap Indian
    involvement- it won’t save you either !
    *

  5. Samarqandi says:
    November 18, 2020 at 1:43 am

    Rationally; rationalize it all- otherwise, it
    will
    irrationally get out
    of
    hand
    and
    engulf
    the whole volatile
    region, beyond repair !
    *

Comments are closed.

Subscribe to the Afghanistan Online YouTube Channel

---

---

---

---

---

Get Yours!

Peace be with you

Afghan Dresses

© Afghan Online Press
  • About
  • Links To More News
  • Opinion
  • Poll