1st Battalion, 501st Infantry Regiment, fourth Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, view as CH-47 Chinook helicopters circle above throughout a dust storm at Forward Operating Base Kushamond, Afghanistan, July 17, throughout preparation for an air attack objective.
U.S. Army picture
WASHINGTON – NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg stated Thursday that the alliance has actually not yet chosen if the 10,000 soldiers it has in Afghanistan will leave the nation by May, in accordance with a peace offer brokered in between the U.S. and the Taliban.
“Violence has to be reduced and the Taliban has to stop cooperating with international terrorist groups that are planning terrorist attacks in our countries,” Stoltenberg informed press reporters at the conclusion of a two-day virtual NATO defense ministers conference.
Last February the United States brokered a handle the Taliban that would introduce a long-term cease-fire and decreased even more the U.S. armed force’s footprint from roughly 13,000 soldiers to 8,600 by mid-July in 2015.
By May 2021, all foreign forces would leave the war-weary nation, according to the offer.
“Our goal is to ensure that we have an enduring political contract that can make it possible for us to leave in such a way that does not weaken our primary objective which is to avoid Afghanistan from ending up being as soon as again a safe house [for terrorists],” Stoltenberg stated, including “That’s also the reason why we will continue to assess the situation before we make any final decision on our future.”
Jens Stoltenberg, 13th Secretary General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, is speak to the media at the NATO headquarter on February 11, 2020 in Brussels, Belgium.
Thierry Monasse/ Getty Images
“The majority of the troops are from European allies and partner countries. We will do what is necessary to make sure that our troops are secure,” Stoltenberg stated when asked if the alliance was gotten ready for violence if the contract with the Taliban is broken.
There have to do with 2,500 U.S. soldiers in the nation. Currently, the U.S. is slated to withdraw American service members from Afghanistan by May 1, 2021.
Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin informed NATO members that the Biden administration was “conducting a thorough review of the conditions of the U.S.-Taliban agreement to determine whether all parties have adhered to those conditions,” according to a Pentagon readout of the conference.
“He reassured allies that the U.S. would not undertake a hasty or disorderly withdrawal from Afghanistan,” the declaration included.
The Pentagon has formerly stated that the U.S. troop drawdown in Afghanistan would be contingent on the Taliban’s dedications to maintain the peace offer brokered in 2015.
The wars in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria have actually cost U.S. taxpayers more than $1.57 trillion given that Sept. 11, 2001, according to a Defense Department report. The war in Afghanistan, which is now America’s longest dispute, started 19 years earlier and has actually cost U.S. taxpayers $193 billion, according to the Pentagon.
Stoltenberg likewise stated Thursday that the NATO alliance chose to broaden its security training objective in Iraq. The military alliance accepted increase its footprint from 500 workers to around 4,000.
“Our presence is conditions-based and increases in troop numbers will be incremental,” he stated, including that the ask for a broadened objective was made by the Iraqi federal government.
