U.S.: No Decision on Remaining Troops in Afghanistan

Date: 08 March 2021 - 21:58

News ID: ۸۸۳۵۶

WASHINGTON (Dispatches) – The U.S. government says all options remain on the table for its remaining 2,500 troops in Afghanistan, saying it has made no decisions about its military commitment after May 1.
The State Department comments came after reports emerged that U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken had made a new urgent push for a United Nations-led peace effort that included a warning that the U.S. military was considering exiting Afghanistan by May 1.
Blinken in a letter to Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said the United States is "considering the full withdrawal of forces by May 1st as we consider other options”.
The letter, confirmed by senior Afghan officials, was sent to Ghani and Abdullah Abdullah, chairman of the peace council, and was discussed and explained to Afghan leaders by U.S. envoy Zalmay Khalilzad during his visit to Kabul last week, the officials said.
"The letter was handed over to President Ghani and myself two days before the visit of Khalilzad,” Abdullah told a gathering in Kabul on Monday.
A State Department spokeswoman declined to confirm the letter’s veracity, but said Sunday the United States has "not made any decisions about our force posture in Afghanistan after May 1. All options remain on the table.”
Negotiations between the Afghan government and the Taliban began in September last year as part of a February 2020 agreement between the militants and the administration of former U.S. president Donald Trump in the Qatari capital, Doha.
Under that deal, all foreign troops were expected to leave Afghan soil within 14 months in exchange for a series of commitments by the Taliban.
Violence has escalated in Afghanistan over the past year.
The United States currently has 2,500 troops in Afghanistan.
President Ghani has rejected a plan to forge an interim government in Afghanistan. As part of the deal with the U.S., the Taliban agreed last year to negotiate a permanent ceasefire and a power-sharing formula with Kabul.
The Afghan president said on Saturday that he was opposed to any transfer of power except through democratic elections, which he said were the only legitimate way to gain political power.
The U.S. overthrew the Taliban regime in Afghanistan in 2001. However, the occupation forces have remained bogged down there and violence continues to take a heavy toll on the country.