Sun 09 August 2020:
The US will cut troop levels in Afghanistan to less than 5,000 by the end of November, according to its defense chief in an interview with Fox News.
US currently has about 8,600 troops in Afghanistan.
Defence Secretary Mark Esper confirmed the move during an interview with Fox on Saturday, adding detail to drawdown plans US President Donald Trump announced earlier this week.
Trump said in an interview released Monday by Axios that the US planned to lower that number to about 4,000.
US peace deal
The peace deal agreed upon in February calls on the Taliban to guarantee Afghanistan will not be used as a staging arena by terrorist groups to attack the US or its allies.
The withdrawal of US and NATO troops hinges on the Taliban meeting those commitments and not on a positive outcome to negotiations between the Taliban and Kabul’s political leadership.
The intra-Afghan negotiations that Washington had hoped would begin in March have been delayed by the reluctance of Kabul to release the Taliban prisoners.
The deal called on Kabul to free 5,000 Taliban and the insurgent group to free 1,000 government and military personnel.
President Ashraf Ghani eventually freed all but 400 of the prisoners while insisting on a council to decide whether they could be released, saying their crimes were too serious for him to decide on alone.
Concern over Taliban
On Thursday, statement issued by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo made it clear that the 400 prisoners had to be released if peace talks with the Taliban were to move forward.
“We acknowledge that the release of these prisoners is unpopular,” Pompeo said. “But this difficult action will lead to an important result long sought by Afghans and Afghanistan’s friends: a reduction of violence and direct talks resulting in a peace agreement and an end to the war.”
In his statement, Pompeo said the Taliban had agreed to reduce violence once talks begin.
“The Taliban have also committed to significantly reduce violence and casualties during the talks where the parties will decide on a political road map to end the long and brutal war and agree on a permanent and comprehensive ceasefire,” he said.
Since signing the agreement with Washington in February, the Taliban have not attacked US and NATO troops, but have continued to wage war with the Afghan National Security Forces. The US and NATO have also begun withdrawing some troops in line with the agreement.
While many Afghans see the peace effort as the best hope for ending the 19-year war with the Taliban, some question how committed the militants are to reconciliation, especially after the US completes its troop withdrawal.
Washington has been urgently trying to ease the deadlock over prisoners as it withdraws troops and President Donald Trump seeks to fulfill a major campaign promise to end the war in Afghanistan.
Trump also said the US will lower troops to between 4,000 and 5,000 in Afghanistan by the US presidential election in November.
