Soldiers of the 82nd Airborne Division collect their devices prior to boarding a CH-47F Chinook that serves with the Task Force Flying Dragons, or first General Support Aviation Battalion., 25th Avn. Regiment, 16th Combat Avn. Brigade, in the Nawa Valley, Kandahar Province, Afghanistan,
Photo: U.S. Army image by Staff Sgt. Whitney Houston | FlickrCC
WASHINGTON — The Pentagon stated Thursday that the U.S. troop drawdown in Afghanistan would be contingent on the Taliban’s dedications to promote a peace offer brokered in 2015.
“The Taliban have not met their commitments,” Pentagon press secretary John Kirby informed press reporters throughout a press rundown.
He included that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin was examining the matter and had actually gone over the course forward in the war-torn nation with NATO allies and partners.
“It is under discussion with our partners and allies to make the best decisions going forward on our force presence in Afghanistan,” Kirby stated, including that the Biden administration has actually not made a decision.
The United States brokered a handle the Taliban last February that would introduce an irreversible cease-fire and minimize the U.S. armed force’s footprint from roughly 13,000 to 8,600 by mid-July in 2015. By May 2021, all foreign forces would leave the war-torn nation, according to the offer.
Former President Donald Trump, who campaigned in 2016 on stopping “ridiculous endless wars” in the Middle East, sped up the decrease of U.S. soldiers in November.
Then-acting Pentagon chief Christopher Miller revealed that the Trump administration would drop its military existence in Afghanistan to 2,500 soldiers and in Iraq to 2,500 soldiers by Jan. 15.
“This decision by the president is based on continuous engagement with his national security cabinet over the past several months including ongoing discussions with me and my colleagues across the United States government,” Miller stated at the Pentagon.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg alerted that leaving Afghanistan prematurely or in an uncoordinated effort might provide unexpected repercussions for the world’s biggest military company.
“Afghanistan risks becoming once again a platform for international terrorists to plan and organize attacks on our homelands. And ISIS could rebuild in Afghanistan the terror caliphate it lost in Syria and Iraq,” the NATO chief stated, describing Islamic State militants.Â
NATO signed up with the global security effort in Afghanistan in 2003 and presently has more than 7,000 soldiers in the nation. NATO’s security operation in Afghanistan was introduced after the alliance triggered its shared defense provision — called Article 5 — for the very first time in the wake of the 9/11 attacks.
There are roughly 2,500 U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan.
The wars in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria have actually cost U.S. taxpayers more than $1.57 trillion considering that Sept. 11, 2001, according to a Defense Department report. The war in Afghanistan, which has actually dragged out to end up being America’s longest dispute, started 19 years earlier and has actually cost U.S. taxpayers $193 billion, according to the Pentagon.
Among the attended to problems in the offer that leave the U.S. existence up in the air are the intro of intra-Afghan settlements and the assurance that Afghanistan will not once again end up being a haven for terrorists.
“The secretary has been very clear, and President Biden has too, it’s time to end this war, but we want to do it responsibly, we want to do it in keeping with our national security interests and those of our Afghan partners,” Kirby informed press reporters at the Pentagon.
— CNBC’s Christian Nunley added to this report from Virginia.
