Washington:
President Joe Biden has decided to withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan by Sept. 11, 2021, 20 years to the day immediately after al Qaeda’s attacks triggered America’s longest war, 3 sources familiar with the choice told Reuters.
However, the withdrawal would be based on particular safety and human rights guarantees, the sources mentioned, speaking on situation of anonymity ahead of the formalization of the choice. The sources did not provide additional information.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin are anticipated to short the choice to NATO allies in Brussels on Wednesday. Biden might also publicly announce his choice, the sources mentioned.
Biden’s choice, ought to it be confirmed, would miss a May 1 deadline for withdrawal agreed with Taliban insurgents by his predecessor Donald Trump’s administration. In a statement final month, the Taliban threatened to resume hostilities against foreign troops in Afghanistan if they did not meet the May 1 deadline.
But it would nonetheless set a close to-term date with withdrawal, potentially allaying Taliban issues that Biden would drag out the method.
The May 1 deadline had currently began to seem much less and much less probably in current weeks, provided the lack of preparations on the ground to make sure it could be accomplished in a secure and accountable way. U.S. officials have also blamed the Taliban for failing to live up to commitments to decrease violence and some have warned about persistent Taliban hyperlinks to al Qaeda.
It was these ties that triggered U.S. military intervention in 2001 following al Qaeda’s Sept. 11 attacks on New York and Washington for the reason that the Taliban had harbored al Qaeda leaders.
Thousands of American and allied troops have died in fighting in Afghanistan.
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