Washington:
The US military could slow down its withdrawal from Afghanistan due to the gains made by the Taliban insurgents, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby mentioned Monday.
Kirby stressed that President Joe Biden’s deadline of a complete withdrawal by September remains in spot, but added that the pace could be adjusted based on situations.
“The situation in Afghanistan changes as the Taliban continue to conduct these attacks and to raid district centres as well as the violence, which is still too high,” he told reporters.
“If there needs to be changes made to the pace, or to the scope and scale of the retrograde, on any given day or in any given week, we want to maintain the flexibility to do that,” he mentioned.
“We’re constantly taking a look at this, every single day: what’s the situation on the ground, what capabilities do we have, what additional resources do we need to move out of Afghanistan and at what pace.” “All of these decisions are literally being made in real time,” he added.
Pentagon officials mentioned last week that the withdrawal, ordered by Biden in April just after almost two decades fighting Al-Qaeda and assisting government forces battle the Taliban, is about half completed.
At the time of Biden’s order about 2,500 US troops and 16,000 contractors, mainly US citizens, have been in the nation. The Pentagon has currently turned more than a number of of its essential bases to government safety forces, and has removed hundreds of cargo plane-loads of gear.
Kirby mentioned US forces continue to help Afghan troops in fighting the Taliban.
“So long as we have the capability in Afghanistan, we will continue to provide assistance to Afghan forces,” he mentioned. “But as the retrograde gets closer to completion, those capabilities will wane and will no longer be available.”
()