U.S. troops begin to withdraw from Afghanistan
Thousands of U.S. troops are expected to depart Afghanistan under terms of a peace agreement amid political turmoil in the Middle Eastern nation.
The United States started withdrawing troops from Afghanistan to cut forces in the country from about 13,000 to 8,600 personnel, a spokesperson for the U.S. Forces in Afghanistan announced last Monday.
The withdrawal was imparted by the U.S.-Taliban peace agreement signed on February 29, which set a deadline of 135 days for the U.S. to withdraw almost half of its troops which have been fighting in the Middle Eastern nation since 2001. All remaining troops will depart in 14 months if the Taliban meets conditions of the agreement, known as the “Agreement for Bringing Peace to Afghanistan,” despite the organization’s dozens of deadly attacks against American-Afghani allies.
Departed troops will not be replaced, but General Scott Miller, the U.S. commander in Kabul, will pause the withdrawal and oversee matters once the number of troops stationed approaches 8,600, according to Defense Secretary Mark Esper. Esper announced earlier this month that he had already approved the initial troop departures; the withdrawal is coordinated with military commanders in Afghanistan.
A seven-day “reduction in violence” period examined the terrorist group’s commitment toward a final peace agreement with the United States. Criticism surrounding the agreement points out its lack of transparency and “inability to hold the Taliban to account,” CNN reported.
Coinciding with the announcement of the troop withdrawal, Afghani rival leaders Ashraf Ghani and Abdullah Abdullah were each sworn in as president in two separate ceremonies last Monday. Ghani was declared winner of the country’s September election last year; his staunch rivalry with Abdullah further complicates the States’ initiative of ending a war that has dragged on for almost two decades.
However, the politically charged disputes residing within the Afghani government are not the cause for the withdrawal. Total withdrawal depends on the Taliban “meeting its commitment to prevent any group or individual, including al-Qaida, from using the soil of Afghanistan to threaten the security of the United States and its allies,” the Associated Press reported.
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