Washington:
The US military has reduce troop levels in Afghanistan and Iraq to 2,500 every single, their lowest levels in the practically two decades because the wars started, the Pentagon announced Friday.
Outgoing President Donald Trump, looking for to fulfill a campaign guarantee to finish the two wars launched immediately after the 9/11 attacks, had ordered force levels slashed in each nations to that level by January 15 — regardless of initial pushback from the Pentagon.
Acting Secretary of Defense Chris Miller mentioned progress towards peace in each nations permits the cuts with no a lower in safety for Americans and their counterparts.
“Today, the United States is closer than ever to ending nearly two decades of war and welcoming in an Afghan-owned, Afghan-led peace process to achieve a political settlement and a permanent and comprehensive ceasefire,” he mentioned in a statement.
More cuts, he mentioned, rely on the progress of the peace talks in between the Afghanistan government and Taliban insurgents.
The US invaded Afghanistan on October 7, 2001, in the wake of the 9/11 attacks. The Taliban regime then in location had hosted Al Qaeda mastermind Osama bin Laden.
The regime had been speedily toppled but launched an insurgency and in current years have noticed a resurgence, with violence soaring across the nation because NATO withdrew its combat forces in 2014 and civilians paying a disproportionate value.
Washington struck a deal with the Taliban in Doha, Qatar on February 29, 2020 to commence withdrawing in return for safety guarantees from the militants and a commitment to peace talks with Kabul.
Those talks are ongoing, but have stuttered amid violence and accusations of slow progress. Meanwhile the Taliban has continued its deadly attacks on Afghan safety forces and civilians alike.
Even as the drawdown was announced on Friday, officials in Afghanistan mentioned that at least nine Afghan safety personnel had been killed when Taliban militants attacked police checkpoints overnight in the restive northern province of Kunduz.
‘Hasty’ withdrawal
The drawdown in Afghanistan is more rapidly than initially planned below the terms of the US-Taliban deal.
Miller took more than as Pentagon chief immediately after Trump fired his predecessor Mark Esper in November, in component simply because he had quietly but stiffly insisted that the level really should keep at 4,500 troops till the Taliban followed by means of on minimizing violence.
Some defense analysts, even so, welcomed the news — not simply because it “represents a victory, but because it’s an overdue recognition of failure,” according to a statement from the Defense Priorities assume tank.
“Calls to keep troops there, perhaps relabeled as a counterterrorism force, would violate the deal and likely pull US forces back into the civil war,” it mentioned.
“Nor is their presence likely to make a Taliban peace deal with the Afghan government much more likely. Sadly, peace is unlikely — no matter what the US does.”
Miller mentioned the Pentagon aims at “further reducing US troop levels to zero by May of 2021,” but added that “any such future drawdowns remain conditions-based.”
NATO — whose chief Jens Stoltenberg has warned against a hasty Afghan withdrawal for worry the nation could once more grow to be a “platform for international terrorists” — nevertheless maintains a force of much less than 11,000 in the nation, an official mentioned.
On Iraq, Miller mentioned the US force reduction reflects “the increased capabilities of the Iraqi security forces.”
He added, even though, that the reduction “does not equate to a change in US policy.”
“US and Coalition forces remain in Iraq to ensure the enduring defeat of (the Islamic State group).”
“We will continue to have a counterterrorism platform in Iraq to support partner forces with airpower and intelligence,” he mentioned.
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