The Taliban welcomed news of the US’ plan to withdraw half its troops in Afghanistan by the summer as Afghan generals warned that it would be a blow to the morale of the country’s beleaguered security forces, who come under daily attacks from the insurgent fighters.
The announcement appears certain to complicate efforts to reach a peace deal, mostly because it gives the Taliban leverage by allowing them to hold off until a total US withdrawal or step up their demands over a weakened Afghan government.
“I believe the Taliban will see this as a reason to stall, and therefore it disincentivizes the Taliban to actually talk to the Afghan government, which it has refused to do,” said Bill Roggio, an Afghanistan analyst with the Washington-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies.
Photo: AP
Afghanistan’s security forces rely heavily on US airpower against both the Taliban and an upstart Islamic State group affiliate.
Afghan military officials said that the announcement by US President Donald Trump’s administration comes as Afghanistan’s security is at its worst since 2014, when more than 100,000 NATO troops pulled out of the country and handed off security to Afghan forces.
The US and NATO retreated into a training and advisory role.
“A complete withdrawal of US forces would very likely cause the Taliban to make gains in key areas throughout Afghanistan,” Roggio said. “This likely would cause the general collapse of the [Afghan National Security and Defense Force] as a cohesive fighting force and lead to the return of the warlords.”
Trump considers the war in Afghanistan a lost cause and has long pushed to pull the troops out. His decision was made public a few hours after he abruptly announced that the US would withdraw its troops from Syria.
Trump’s state of mind is sure to have given a sense of urgency to US Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad, who has been working to reach a negotiated end to the US’ longest war and has been pushing for a deal by April.
In an interview with Afghanistan’s TOLO TV on Thursday — hours before the withdrawal plans were announced — he said that Trump had campaigned for president on a promise to end the Afghan war, which has already cost US taxpayers nearly US$1 trillion.
More than 2,400 US soldiers have also died in Afghanistan since the 2001 US-led invasion.
A Taliban official said that the announcement was a positive step.
Taliban officials think the promised departure could help the peace process, because it could “lead to trust-building that the US wants a political solution,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
However, there was no sign that the Taliban was ready to move on the two major sticking points: direct talks with the Afghan government and a cease fire while the two sides negotiate Khalilzad’s so-called “roadmap for the future of Afghanistan.”
The Taliban are stronger than they have been since their ouster in 2001, controlling or holding sway over nearly half the country.
The morale of Afghanistan’s undertrained and poorly equipped security forces is already at a dangerously low ebb, several high-ranking Afghan military officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The troops routinely complain about reinforcements that arrive too late, equipment that fails and even running out of food.
The officials called America’s withdrawal a defeat, comparing it to the US’ evacuation from Vietnam and Russia’s 1989 forced withdrawal from Afghanistan, which capped a failed 10-year campaign.
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was