Washington:
The US military is proceeding with President Donald Trump’s order to slash troops in Afghanistan to 2,500 by mid-January, the Pentagon’s leading basic stated Wednesday, calling the scenario on the ground a “strategic stalemate.”
Joint Chiefs Chairman General Mark Milley, who earlier appeared opposed to cuts on the estimated 4,500 US troops at present there, stated the United States had been thriving “to a large measure” at its original objective of hitting Al-Qaeda following the September 11, 2001 attacks.
The US went to Afghanistan in 2001, he stated, “to ensure that Afghanistan never again became a platform for terrorists to strike against the United States.
“To a significant measure, we have been, at least to date, thriving in stopping that from taking place once again,” Milley said in an online Brookings Institution forum.
“We think that now following 20 years, two decades of constant work there we’ve accomplished a modicum of achievement.”
Milley said it has been clear for the past five to seven years that the situation on the ground has been a strategic stalemate, with neither Afghan government forces or Taliban insurgents able to defeat the other.
The only way that war could come to an end — in a way that is aligned with US security needs — he said, was through a negotiated settlement between Kabul and the Taliban.
With negotiations on a peace deal underway in Doha, he said, the Trump administration has decided to cut US troop levels — which were at about 13,000 a year ago — to 2,500 by January 15.
At that level, he said, the US will hold “a couple” main bases and several smaller satellite bases in the country.
In early November, Trump fired defense secretary Mark Esper, who had resisted accelerating a troop withdrawal schedule, and replaced him with White House aide Chris Miller, who backs the drawdown plans.
“We’re in the method of executing that choice ideal now,” Milley said.
“What comes following that, that will be up to a new administration,” he said, referring to President-elect Joe Biden, who will replace Trump in late January.
“We’ll come across that out on January 20 and beyond,” Milley added.
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