NATO Refuses to Commit to Withdrawal From Afghanistan

Date: 09 October 2020 - 21:44

News ID: ۸۳۶۴۲

KABUL (Press TV) – NATO has dismissed U.S. President Donald Trump’s surprise announcement to pull out all of U.S. troops from Afghanistan by the end of the year, saying that members of the military alliance will decide together on when to withdraw forces from the war-ravaged country.
Trump announced on Twitter on Wednesday that he was going to bring all U.S. troops home from Afghanistan by Christmas.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg reacted to the president’s remarks on Thursday, saying that the military alliance will end its mission in Afghanistan only when conditions on the ground permit.
"We decided to go into Afghanistan together, we will make decisions on future adjustments together, and when the time is right, we will leave together,” Stoltenberg said at a news conference.
NATO deployed forces to Afghanistan following the 2001 U.S.-led invasion to topple the Taliban-run government, on the pretext of fighting terrorism following the September 11 attacks in New York.
Afghanistan has been gripped by insecurity since the U.S. and its allies invaded the country as part of Washington’s so-called ‘war on terror’ 19 years ago. Many parts of the country remain plagued by militancy despite the presence of U.S.-led foreign troops.
American forces have since remained bogged down in the country through the presidencies of George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and now, Donald Trump.
In an interview on Thursday Trump also said that U.S. troops are "down to 4,000 troops in Afghanistan. I’ll have them home by the end of the year. They’re coming home, you know, as we speak. Nineteen years is enough.”
Analysts say Trump, trailing in polls just weeks ahead of the November 3 presidential election, made the withdrawal announcement to show he is making good on his 2016 promise to end "endless wars.”
Trump’s announcement was welcomed by the Taliban on Thursday.
A spokesman for the group, Mohammad Naeem, described Trump’s announcement as "a positive step towards the implementation of [the] Doha agreement.”
In a deal reached between the U.S. and the Taliban earlier this year in the Qatari capital, Doha, the United States promised to pull out all of its troops by mid-2021 in return for the Taliban to stop their attacks on U.S.-led occupation foreign troops in Afghanistan.
Some 4,500 American troops are currently on the ground in Afghanistan, reduced from over 12,000 when the deal was signed in February.
NATO’s recent refusal to commit to withdrawal, according to observers, puts the complicated negotiations in jeopardy at a time Afghanistan continues to suffer from series of attacks — claimed either by the Taliban or the Daesh terrorist group.