The Taliban Friday said they "welcome and support" the exit of all US and NATO forces from Afghanistan's Bagram Air Base, a sign of an imminent final withdrawal of foreign troops from the country.

"Their full withdrawal (from Afghanistan) will pave the way for Afghans to decide about their future between themselves," Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said.

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American troops pulled out of their main military base in Afghanistan on Friday&nbsp;under an agreement with the Taliban allowing for the withdrawal of all US&nbsp;forces from the country after a two-decade war.

The US&nbsp;military has coordinated its air war and logistical support for its Afghan mission from the&nbsp;Bagram&nbsp;air base, about 60 km (40 miles) north of Kabul, and the withdrawal of the forces symbolises the end of the US&nbsp;military involvement in the country.

The base is being handed over to the Afghan government as its armed forces face a surging war with the Taliban and questions swirl about their prospects.

For decades Bagram Air Base, north of the Afghan capital, served as both the linchpin for foreign armies fighting insurgents and as a symbol of the brutalities unleashed by years of civil war.

Just 50 kilometres (30 miles) from Kabul, the base is vital to the security of the capital while also providing strategic cover to much of the country's rugged north.&nbsp;&nbsp;

The sprawling airfield was first built by the Americans for its Afghan ally during the Cold War in the 1950s as a bulwark against the Soviet Union in the north.&nbsp;

Since its construction, a rotating cast of characters has exchanged control of the base, during decades of conflict that have roiled Afghanistan.

It served as the staging ground for the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan following the Red Army's invasion in 1979, and Moscow vastly expanded it.

Following the Soviet withdrawal nearly a decade later, the base went from being controlled by the Moscow-backed government to being occupied by the shaky mujahideen administration during the civil war.&nbsp;

It was reported that at one point the Taliban controlled one end of the three-kilometre (two-mile) runway, and the opposition Northern Alliance the other.

Bagram ultimately fell into the Taliban's hands after the hardline jihadist group overran large swathes of the country in the mid-1990s.

Following the September 11 attacks and the US invasion of Afghanistan, the Americans took control of the base.

Washington's long war against the Taliban and their Al Qaeda allies was largely maintained with airstrikes and resupply missions stemming from the airfield.&nbsp;

The past two decades have brought numerous US presidential visits, while the base was also home to a prison that stoked controversy over the treatment of Afghan detainees by foreign forces.

During its heyday, the mini-city was visited by hundreds of thousands of service members and contractors.

It boasted swimming pools, cinemas and spas,&nbsp;and even a boardwalk featuring fast-food outlets such as Burger King and Pizza Hut.

In recent months, Bagram has come under rocket barrages claimed by the jihadist Islamic State, sparking new fears that militants are already eyeing the base for future attacks.

Following months of consultations, US President Joe Biden in April announced he would end the country's longest war and bring home its remaining troops ahead of the 20th anniversary of the September 11 attacks.

To this day, the sides of the road from Kabul to Bagram remain littered with the rusting hulks of old Soviet tanks, a searing reminder of the more than four decades of conflict that has left much of Afghanistan in tatters.

(With inputs from agencies)

The Taliban Friday said they "welcome and support" the exit of all US and NATO forces from Afghanistan's Bagram Air Base, a sign of an imminent final withdrawal of foreign troops from the country.

The Taliban Friday said they "welcome and support" the exit of all US and NATO forces from Afghanistan's Bagram Air Base, a sign of an imminent final withdrawal of foreign troops from the country. "Their full withdrawal (from Afghanistan) will pave the way for Afghans to decide about their future between themselves," Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said. American troops pulled out of their main military base in Afghanistan on Friday under an agreement with the Taliban allowing for the withdrawal of all US forces from the country after a two-decade war. The US military has coordinated its air war and logistical support for its Afghan mission from the Bagram air base, about 60 km (40 miles) north of Kabul, and the withdrawal of the forces symbolises the end of the US military involvement in the country. The base is being handed over to the Afghan government as its armed forces face a surging war with the Taliban and questions swirl about their prospects. For decades Bagram Air Base, north of the Afghan capital, served as both the linchpin for foreign armies fighting insurgents and as a symbol of the brutalities unleashed by years of civil war. Just 50 kilometres (30 miles) from Kabul, the base is vital to the security of the capital while also providing strategic cover to much of the country's rugged north. The sprawling airfield was first built by the Americans for its Afghan ally during the Cold War in the 1950s as a bulwark against the Soviet Union in the north. Since its construction, a rotating cast of characters has exchanged control of the base, during decades of conflict that have roiled Afghanistan. It served as the staging ground for the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan following the Red Army's invasion in 1979, and Moscow vastly expanded it. Following the Soviet withdrawal nearly a decade later, the base went from being controlled by the Moscow-backed government to being occupied by the shaky mujahideen administration during the civil war. It was reported that at one point the Taliban controlled one end of the three-kilometre (two-mile) runway, and the opposition Northern Alliance the other. Bagram ultimately fell into the Taliban's hands after the hardline jihadist group overran large swathes of the country in the mid-1990s. Following the September 11 attacks and the US invasion of Afghanistan, the Americans took control of the base. Washington's long war against the Taliban and their Al Qaeda allies was largely maintained with airstrikes and resupply missions stemming from the airfield. The past two decades have brought numerous US presidential visits, while the base was also home to a prison that stoked controversy over the treatment of Afghan detainees by foreign forces. During its heyday, the mini-city was visited by hundreds of thousands of service members and contractors. It boasted swimming pools, cinemas and spas, and even a boardwalk featuring fast-food outlets such as Burger King and Pizza Hut. In recent months, Bagram has come under rocket barrages claimed by the jihadist Islamic State, sparking new fears that militants are already eyeing the base for future attacks. Following months of consultations, US President Joe Biden in April announced he would end the country's longest war and bring home its remaining troops ahead of the 20th anniversary of the September 11 attacks. To this day, the sides of the road from Kabul to Bagram remain littered with the rusting hulks of old Soviet tanks, a searing reminder of the more than four decades of conflict that has left much of Afghanistan in tatters. (With inputs from agencies)

Taliban 'welcome and support' exit of foreign forces from Bagram

Antonov An-225 Mriya the world's heaviest aircraft made a stopover at Karachi airport on Wednesday after taking off from Kyiv’s Gostomel Antonov Airport in Ukraine in its first flight in nearly a year.

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/antonov-an-225-worlds-heaviest-aircraft-flies-again-after-pandemic-delay-393429">Also Read:&nbsp;Antonov An-225 -&nbsp;World's heaviest aircraft flies again after pandemic delay</a>

The big bird landed in Karachi's Jinnah International Airport from Afghanistan. The plane is reportedly carrying&nbsp;military cargo from Afghanistan as US and NATO troops pull out of the region.

The aircraft last flew in August last year to Tel Aviv. It was grounded last year amid the coronavirus crisis as air traffic dipped. The latest flight was closely tracked by enthusiasts worldwide, especially in Pakistan as it landed.

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World’s heaviest cargo aircraft Antonov An-225 Mriya at <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Karachi?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Karachi</a> airport which made a technical stopover yesterday after taking off from Kabul. <a href="https://t.co/FExpx73WyI">pic.twitter.com/FExpx73WyI</a>
— Furqan T. Siddiqui (@furqantsiddiqui) <a href="https://twitter.com/furqantsiddiqui/status/1407981753747312642?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 24, 2021</a></blockquote>
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&nbsp;

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The Worlds Largest Airplane Antonov AN-225 Mriya Landing at Karachi (OPKC).<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/AN225?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#AN225</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Antonov225?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Antonov225</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Antonov?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Antonov</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Mriya?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Mriya</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/OPKC?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#OPKC</a> <a href="https://t.co/9DX9dc4ptd">pic.twitter.com/9DX9dc4ptd</a>
— Sohail Ahmed (@sohailahmedsa) <a href="https://twitter.com/sohailahmedsa/status/1407700529736826882?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 23, 2021</a></blockquote>
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&nbsp;

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✈️ Antonov Airlines 
An-225 
Left Karachi with 3 RAF Puma helicopters on their way back from Afghanistan <a href="https://t.co/d0RRH4xIzu">pic.twitter.com/d0RRH4xIzu</a>
— Intel Air &amp; Sea (@air_intel) <a href="https://twitter.com/air_intel/status/1407951623649906689?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 24, 2021</a></blockquote>
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The strategic cargo aircraft was built during the Soviet era in the 1980s and flew for the first time in 1988. The plane has the longest wingspan including 32 wheels and six turbofan engines.

It was initially designed to airlift Soviet rocket boosters and Buran-class orbiters but was put in storage in the 90s after the collapse of the former Soviet Union. It was brought back into service as demand grew for moving large cargo.

The Antonov An-225 undertook the first commercial flight in 2002 when it flew from Stuttgart to Oman for the American military personnel. The plane is part of Antonov Airlines. The An-225 has undertaken several emergency operations including in disaster zones worldwide.

It has carried everything from wind turbine blades, battle tanks, tonnes of ready-to-eat meals for the US forces and even carried 150-tonne generators.

(With inputs from Agencies)

Antonov An-225 Mriya the world's heaviest aircraft made a stopover at Karachi airport on Wednesday after taking off from Kyiv’s Gostomel Antonov Airport in Ukraine in its first flight in nearly a year.

Antonov An-225 Mriya the world's heaviest aircraft made a stopover at Karachi airport on Wednesday after taking off from Kyiv’s Gostomel Antonov Airport in Ukraine in its first flight in nearly a year. Also Read: Antonov An-225 - World's heaviest aircraft flies again after pandemic delay The big bird landed in Karachi's Jinnah International Airport from Afghanistan. The plane is reportedly carrying military cargo from Afghanistan as US and NATO troops pull out of the region. The aircraft last flew in August last year to Tel Aviv. It was grounded last year amid the coronavirus crisis as air traffic dipped. The latest flight was closely tracked by enthusiasts worldwide, especially in Pakistan as it landed. World’s heaviest cargo aircraft Antonov An-225 Mriya at #Karachi airport which made a technical stopover yesterday after taking off from Kabul. pic.twitter.com/FExpx73WyI — Furqan T. Siddiqui (@furqantsiddiqui) June 24, 2021 × The Worlds Largest Airplane Antonov AN-225 Mriya Landing at Karachi (OPKC).#AN225 #Antonov225 #Antonov #Mriya #OPKC pic.twitter.com/9DX9dc4ptd — Sohail Ahmed (@sohailahmedsa) June 23, 2021 × ✈️ Antonov Airlines An-225 Left Karachi with 3 RAF Puma helicopters on their way back from Afghanistan pic.twitter.com/d0RRH4xIzu — Intel Air & Sea (@air_intel) June 24, 2021 × The strategic cargo aircraft was built during the Soviet era in the 1980s and flew for the first time in 1988. The plane has the longest wingspan including 32 wheels and six turbofan engines. It was initially designed to airlift Soviet rocket boosters and Buran-class orbiters but was put in storage in the 90s after the collapse of the former Soviet Union. It was brought back into service as demand grew for moving large cargo. The Antonov An-225 undertook the first commercial flight in 2002 when it flew from Stuttgart to Oman for the American military personnel. The plane is part of Antonov Airlines. The An-225 has undertaken several emergency operations including in disaster zones worldwide. It has carried everything from wind turbine blades, battle tanks, tonnes of ready-to-eat meals for the US forces and even carried 150-tonne generators. (With inputs from Agencies)

Antonov An-225 Mriya, world's heaviest aircraft makes stopover at Karachi airport; Twitter reacts

A day after Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said the US military could slow down its withdrawal from Afghanistan due to the gains made by the Taliban, AFP quoting officials reported that the <a href="https://www.wionews.com/south-asia/sharp-increase-in-taliban-fundraising-on-pakistan-soil-393098">Taliban</a> had captured Afghanistan's main border crossing with Tajikistan.

The development comes as <a href="https://www.wionews.com/south-asia/afghan-security-forces-retake-two-districts-from-taliban-in-takhar-province-392933">Taliban</a> and Afghan forces clashed on Monday outside Kunduz city which was a former stronghold of the militant outfit.&nbsp;

Watch:

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Kunduz is&nbsp;a key trade transit point between Afghanistan and Tajikistan.

The Taliban has already claimed to have annexed at least 50 districts since it launched a major offensive last month as the US announced it was pulling out of the country by September 11.

Pentagon spokesman John Kirby had said that the Taliban has continued its attack and the situation in the country has been changing continuously.

Kirby added that the US is constantly looking at the situation "every single day" with decisions being made in "real-time".

The US had said it had already handed over several bases to government troops even as&nbsp; its forces continue to support Afghan troops against the Taliban.

Reports claim at least 2,500 US troops are still in Afghanistan as the Taliban continues to make headway into the country.&nbsp;

On Monday, the Taliban had declared it had captured Imam Sahib district amid heavy fighting with government forces.&nbsp;

A day after Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said the US military could slow down its withdrawal from Afghanistan due to the gains made by the Taliban, AFP quoting officials reported that the Taliban had captured Afghanistan's main border crossing with Tajikistan.

A day after Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said the US military could slow down its withdrawal from Afghanistan due to the gains made by the Taliban, AFP quoting officials reported that the Taliban had captured Afghanistan's main border crossing with Tajikistan. The development comes as Taliban and Afghan forces clashed on Monday outside Kunduz city which was a former stronghold of the militant outfit. Watch: Kunduz is a key trade transit point between Afghanistan and Tajikistan. The Taliban has already claimed to have annexed at least 50 districts since it launched a major offensive last month as the US announced it was pulling out of the country by September 11. Pentagon spokesman John Kirby had said that the Taliban has continued its attack and the situation in the country has been changing continuously. Kirby added that the US is constantly looking at the situation "every single day" with decisions being made in "real-time". The US had said it had already handed over several bases to government troops even as its forces continue to support Afghan troops against the Taliban. Reports claim at least 2,500 US troops are still in Afghanistan as the Taliban continues to make headway into the country. On Monday, the Taliban had declared it had captured Imam Sahib district amid heavy fighting with government forces.

Taliban captures Afghanistan's main border crossing with Tajikistan

Days after the American embassy in Kabul stopped its&nbsp;visa operations due to a surge in coronavirus cases, the management announced an immediate lockdown after 114 staffers fell ill, with the military hospital's ICU running at full capacity.

The embassy announced it had created temporary wards to take care of patients who needed oxygen, with the majority of cases being unvaccinated.

Watch:

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The authorities have banned indoor meetings unless it is "absolutely mission-critical". Indoor and outdoor pools and indoor gyms have been&nbsp;closed.

The restrictions are set to be in force until the chain of transmission is broken, it said. One staff member has died due to the virus.

Afghanistan has been hit by a third wave with over 3,400 casualties reported since the country was hit by the pandemic last year.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies had earlier reported that COVID-19 cases have reported a huge jump with hospitals&nbsp;under pressure and lack of resources impeding medical care.

The country recorded 2,313 coronavirus cases and 101 fatalities on Thursday with less than 1 per cent citizens vaccinated as China's Sinopharm vaccine arrived in the country last week.

Several areas including Kabul have been hit badly with the virus with hospital beds fully occupied.

Days after the American embassy in Kabul stopped its visa operations due to a surge in coronavirus cases, the management announced an immediate lockdown after 114 staffers fell ill, with the military hospital's ICU running at full capacity.

Days after the American embassy in Kabul stopped its visa operations due to a surge in coronavirus cases, the management announced an immediate lockdown after 114 staffers fell ill, with the military hospital's ICU running at full capacity. The embassy announced it had created temporary wards to take care of patients who needed oxygen, with the majority of cases being unvaccinated. Watch: The authorities have banned indoor meetings unless it is "absolutely mission-critical". Indoor and outdoor pools and indoor gyms have been closed. The restrictions are set to be in force until the chain of transmission is broken, it said. One staff member has died due to the virus. Afghanistan has been hit by a third wave with over 3,400 casualties reported since the country was hit by the pandemic last year. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies had earlier reported that COVID-19 cases have reported a huge jump with hospitals under pressure and lack of resources impeding medical care. The country recorded 2,313 coronavirus cases and 101 fatalities on Thursday with less than 1 per cent citizens vaccinated as China's Sinopharm vaccine arrived in the country last week. Several areas including Kabul have been hit badly with the virus with hospital beds fully occupied.

American embassy in Kabul hit with Covid virus; 114 infected, 1 dead

Turkey&nbsp;should withdraw its troops from Afghanistan under the 2020 deal for the pullout of US&nbsp;forces, a Taliban spokesman said on Thursday, effectively rejecting Ankara's proposal to guard and run Kabul's airport after US-led NATO forces depart.

The development raises serious questions for the United States, other countries and international organizations with missions in Kabul about how to securely evacuate their personnel from landlocked Afghanistan should fighting threaten the capital.

Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/south-asia/us-pullout-from-afghanistan-half-done-but-questions-remain-390140">US pullout from Afghanistan half done, but questions remain</a>

It also appeared to dash Ankara's hopes of using the securing of Kabul airport to help improve ties with Washington,&nbsp;strained by&nbsp;Turkey's purchase of Russian defence systems,&nbsp;in talks set for Monday between President Joe Biden and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan

Asked in a text message whether the Taliban rejected&nbsp;Turkey's proposal to keep forces in Kabul to guard and run the international airport after other foreign troops leave, the Taliban spokesman in Doha responded that they should go as well.

"Turkey&nbsp;was part of NATO forces in the past 20 years, so as such, they should withdraw from Afghanistan on the basis of the Agreement we signed with US on 29th Feb 2020," Suhail Shaheen told Reuters.

Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/south-asia/us-had-constructive-discussions-with-pak-on-afghanistan-issue-sullivan-390041">US had constructive discussions with Pak on Afghanistan issue: Sullivan</a>

"Otherwise,&nbsp;Turkey&nbsp;is a great Islamic country. Afghanistan has had historical relations with it. We hope to have close and good relations with them as a new Islamic government is established in the country in future," he added.

The State Department and the Turkish Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

US&nbsp;Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke on Thursday with Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar to "discuss bilateral cooperation and regional issues," the Pentagon said in a statement, which did not specifically mention Afghanistan.

Under the February 2020 deal secured with the Islamist Taliban under former President Donald Trump, all US&nbsp;forces were to be out of Afghanistan by May 1.

But Biden said in April that the pullout would be completed by the 20th anniversary of Sept. 11, 2001, al Qaeda attacks on the United States that prompted the US-led invasion and ouster of the Taliban government that sheltered the group.

Turkish officials say they made the Kabul airport proposal at a NATO meeting in May when the United States and its partners agreed to a plan to withdraw their forces by Sept. 11 after 20 years of backing the Afghan government in a war against the Taliban.

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With violence raging, many US&nbsp;lawmakers and current and former officials fear the departure of the foreign forces and stalled peace talks are pushing Afghanistan into an all-out civil war that could return the Taliban to power.

The Pentagon says the US&nbsp;withdrawal is more than 50 per cent&nbsp;complete.&nbsp;Turkey, with more than 500 soldiers still in Afghanistan training security forces, now has the largest foreign military contingent there.

Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/south-asia/australia-shutters-embassy-in-afghanistan-sparking-exodus-fears-388056">Australia shutters embassy in Afghanistan, sparking exodus fears</a>

Australia closed its embassy last month because of security concerns. The Taliban's effective rejection of the Turkish plan to secure the airport could prompt other countries to shutter their missions.

The development also poses a quandary for the Biden administration, with Secretary of State Antony Blinken vowing as recently as this week at a congressional hearing to maintain a US&nbsp;diplomatic presence in Kabul.

Turkey should withdraw its troops from Afghanistan under the 2020 deal for the pullout of US forces, a Taliban spokesman said on Thursday, effectively rejecting Ankara's proposal to guard and run Kabul's airport after US-led NATO forces depart.

Turkey should withdraw its troops from Afghanistan under the 2020 deal for the pullout of US forces, a Taliban spokesman said on Thursday, effectively rejecting Ankara's proposal to guard and run Kabul's airport after US-led NATO forces depart. The development raises serious questions for the United States, other countries and international organizations with missions in Kabul about how to securely evacuate their personnel from landlocked Afghanistan should fighting threaten the capital. Also read | US pullout from Afghanistan half done, but questions remain It also appeared to dash Ankara's hopes of using the securing of Kabul airport to help improve ties with Washington, strained by Turkey's purchase of Russian defence systems, in talks set for Monday between President Joe Biden and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan Asked in a text message whether the Taliban rejected Turkey's proposal to keep forces in Kabul to guard and run the international airport after other foreign troops leave, the Taliban spokesman in Doha responded that they should go as well. "Turkey was part of NATO forces in the past 20 years, so as such, they should withdraw from Afghanistan on the basis of the Agreement we signed with US on 29th Feb 2020," Suhail Shaheen told Reuters. Also read | US had constructive discussions with Pak on Afghanistan issue: Sullivan "Otherwise, Turkey is a great Islamic country. Afghanistan has had historical relations with it. We hope to have close and good relations with them as a new Islamic government is established in the country in future," he added. The State Department and the Turkish Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment. US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke on Thursday with Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar to "discuss bilateral cooperation and regional issues," the Pentagon said in a statement, which did not specifically mention Afghanistan. Under the February 2020 deal secured with the Islamist Taliban under former President Donald Trump, all US forces were to be out of Afghanistan by May 1. But Biden said in April that the pullout would be completed by the 20th anniversary of Sept. 11, 2001, al Qaeda attacks on the United States that prompted the US-led invasion and ouster of the Taliban government that sheltered the group. Turkish officials say they made the Kabul airport proposal at a NATO meeting in May when the United States and its partners agreed to a plan to withdraw their forces by Sept. 11 after 20 years of backing the Afghan government in a war against the Taliban. With violence raging, many US lawmakers and current and former officials fear the departure of the foreign forces and stalled peace talks are pushing Afghanistan into an all-out civil war that could return the Taliban to power. The Pentagon says the US withdrawal is more than 50 per cent complete. Turkey, with more than 500 soldiers still in Afghanistan training security forces, now has the largest foreign military contingent there. Also read | Australia shutters embassy in Afghanistan, sparking exodus fears Australia closed its embassy last month because of security concerns. The Taliban's effective rejection of the Turkish plan to secure the airport could prompt other countries to shutter their missions. The development also poses a quandary for the Biden administration, with Secretary of State Antony Blinken vowing as recently as this week at a congressional hearing to maintain a US diplomatic presence in Kabul.

Turkey should pull troops from Afghanistan under 2020 accord: Taliban

In a hearing on Thursday, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin told the US Congress that the troop pullout has been proceeding "slightly" ahead of schedule in <a href="https://www.wionews.com/south-asia/taliban-warn-afghan-neighbours-against-allowing-us-bases-387551">Afghanistan</a>.

Watch:

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"We accomplished the mission for which our troops were sent to Afghanistan," the US defence secretary told lawmakers.

President Biden had set September 11 as the date for the complete pullout of US troops from Afghanistan, which would be the 20th anniversary of the attacks on the World Trade Tower and Pentagon.

Biden had, however, asserted that the withdrawal would be conducted "responsibly, deliberately, and safely" while informing that the US will not take its "eye off the terrorist threat".

In a statement, the US president had said that Pakistan, as well as Russia, China, India, and Turkey, should do more as they have "significant stake in the stable future for Afghanistan."

Amid speculation that Pakistan would offer military bases to the US, Pakistan's foreign office had said, "There is no US military or airbase in Pakistan; nor is any such proposal envisaged."

"Pakistan and the US have a framework of cooperation in terms of Air Lines of Communication (ALOC) and Ground Lines of Communication (GLOC) in place since 2001. No new agreement has been made in this regard," the Pakistan foreign office stated.

Pakistan's statement came after the commander of the US Central Command General Kenneth McKenzie Jr had told the US Senate that some US troops will remain “stationed nearby Afghanistan” even as President Biden informed that his government was in talks with with “Central Asian neighbours of Afghanistan” to have US troops stationed on the ground nearby. 
&nbsp; 
Reports say Austin had earlier spoken to Pakistan Army chief General Bajwa expressing the Biden administration intention&nbsp;“to continue to work together to further regional security and stability.”

"We urge neighbouring countries not to allow anyone to do so, if such a step is taken again, it will be a great and historic mistake and disgrace," the Taliban had said in a statement.

Meanwhile, the Taliban had urged neighbouring countries not to allow US bases on their soil.

In his statement, Biden had made it clear that the US would keep providing "assistance to the Afghan national defences&nbsp;and security&nbsp;forces" although the US president maintained the US will&nbsp;not stay involved in Afghanistan militarily.&nbsp;

(With Agency inputs)

In a hearing on Thursday, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin told the US Congress that the troop pullout has been proceeding "slightly" ahead of schedule in Afghanistan.

In a hearing on Thursday, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin told the US Congress that the troop pullout has been proceeding "slightly" ahead of schedule in Afghanistan. Watch: "We accomplished the mission for which our troops were sent to Afghanistan," the US defence secretary told lawmakers. President Biden had set September 11 as the date for the complete pullout of US troops from Afghanistan, which would be the 20th anniversary of the attacks on the World Trade Tower and Pentagon. Biden had, however, asserted that the withdrawal would be conducted "responsibly, deliberately, and safely" while informing that the US will not take its "eye off the terrorist threat". In a statement, the US president had said that Pakistan, as well as Russia, China, India, and Turkey, should do more as they have "significant stake in the stable future for Afghanistan." Amid speculation that Pakistan would offer military bases to the US, Pakistan's foreign office had said, "There is no US military or airbase in Pakistan; nor is any such proposal envisaged." "Pakistan and the US have a framework of cooperation in terms of Air Lines of Communication (ALOC) and Ground Lines of Communication (GLOC) in place since 2001. No new agreement has been made in this regard," the Pakistan foreign office stated. Pakistan's statement came after the commander of the US Central Command General Kenneth McKenzie Jr had told the US Senate that some US troops will remain “stationed nearby Afghanistan” even as President Biden informed that his government was in talks with with “Central Asian neighbours of Afghanistan” to have US troops stationed on the ground nearby. Reports say Austin had earlier spoken to Pakistan Army chief General Bajwa expressing the Biden administration intention “to continue to work together to further regional security and stability.” "We urge neighbouring countries not to allow anyone to do so, if such a step is taken again, it will be a great and historic mistake and disgrace," the Taliban had said in a statement. Meanwhile, the Taliban had urged neighbouring countries not to allow US bases on their soil. In his statement, Biden had made it clear that the US would keep providing "assistance to the Afghan national defences and security forces" although the US president maintained the US will not stay involved in Afghanistan militarily. (With Agency inputs)

US troop pullout proceeding 'slightly' ahead of schedule in Afghanistan, US defence secretary Austin informs Congress

The military of the United States has formally begun its withdrawal from Afghanistan after almost 20 years in the country, Army General Austin Scott Miller confirmed on Sunday.&nbsp;

This development comes less than two weeks after President Joe Biden announced that all US troops would be out of the country by September 11, 2021 — a significant achievement that eluded his predecessors.

But the move has received bipartisan backlash in US Senate. Republican leader Mitch McConnell said that it would be a grave mistake to withdraw before ensuring the Taliban had been defeated.

The Taliban have continued their activity in the region even as the US pushes for peace talks: The Afghan government reported that the Taliban conducted 62 bomb blasts and six suicide bombings in the last 11 days, killing 63 civilians and wounding 180 more.

Army General Miller, who has been commanding the US forces and the NATO Resolute Support Mission in Afghanistan in their fight against the Taliban and other Islamist militant groups since 2018, said foreign forces will continue to have "the military means and capability to fully protect themselves during the ongoing retrograde and will support the Afghan security forces."

"I`ve had the opportunity to talk to Taliban members with the Taliban Political Commission, and I`ve told them a return to violence, an effort to force a military decision, would be a tragedy for Afghanistan and the Afghan people," Miller told reporters in the capital Kabul.

The Taliban ruled Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001, when they were ousted by US-led forces. Since then they have waged a long-running insurgency and now control wide swathes of territory.

Security experts in recent weeks said they doubt if the Taliban will allow US forces, whom they call invaders, to peacefully exit the country at a time when clashes between the Afghan forces and the Taliban have not ebbed.

Foreign force withdrawal is slated to begin on May 1, in line with an agreement with the Taliban in 2020.

"As we retrograde to zero US forces, we will turn over the (military) bases primarily to the (Afghan) Ministry of Defense and other Afghan forces," Miller said adding that the Taliban have committed to breaking their relationship with al Qaeda, the Islamist extremist group.

The Taliban government`s sheltering of al Qaeda was the key reason for the US invasion of Afghanistan after the September 2001 attacks.

A United Nations report in January said there were as many as 500 al Qaeda fighters in Afghanistan and that the Taliban maintained a close relationship with them. The Taliban denies al Qaeda presence in Afghanistan.

(With inputs from agencies)

The military of the United States has formally begun its withdrawal from Afghanistan after almost 20 years in the country, Army General Austin Scott Miller confirmed on Sunday.

The military of the United States has formally begun its withdrawal from Afghanistan after almost 20 years in the country, Army General Austin Scott Miller confirmed on Sunday. This development comes less than two weeks after President Joe Biden announced that all US troops would be out of the country by September 11, 2021 — a significant achievement that eluded his predecessors. But the move has received bipartisan backlash in US Senate. Republican leader Mitch McConnell said that it would be a grave mistake to withdraw before ensuring the Taliban had been defeated. The Taliban have continued their activity in the region even as the US pushes for peace talks: The Afghan government reported that the Taliban conducted 62 bomb blasts and six suicide bombings in the last 11 days, killing 63 civilians and wounding 180 more. Army General Miller, who has been commanding the US forces and the NATO Resolute Support Mission in Afghanistan in their fight against the Taliban and other Islamist militant groups since 2018, said foreign forces will continue to have "the military means and capability to fully protect themselves during the ongoing retrograde and will support the Afghan security forces." "I`ve had the opportunity to talk to Taliban members with the Taliban Political Commission, and I`ve told them a return to violence, an effort to force a military decision, would be a tragedy for Afghanistan and the Afghan people," Miller told reporters in the capital Kabul. The Taliban ruled Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001, when they were ousted by US-led forces. Since then they have waged a long-running insurgency and now control wide swathes of territory. Security experts in recent weeks said they doubt if the Taliban will allow US forces, whom they call invaders, to peacefully exit the country at a time when clashes between the Afghan forces and the Taliban have not ebbed. Foreign force withdrawal is slated to begin on May 1, in line with an agreement with the Taliban in 2020. "As we retrograde to zero US forces, we will turn over the (military) bases primarily to the (Afghan) Ministry of Defense and other Afghan forces," Miller said adding that the Taliban have committed to breaking their relationship with al Qaeda, the Islamist extremist group. The Taliban government`s sheltering of al Qaeda was the key reason for the US invasion of Afghanistan after the September 2001 attacks. A United Nations report in January said there were as many as 500 al Qaeda fighters in Afghanistan and that the Taliban maintained a close relationship with them. The Taliban denies al Qaeda presence in Afghanistan. (With inputs from agencies)

US troops begin final withdrawal from Afghanistan, Taliban ramps up deadly bombings

President Joe Biden announced Wednesday it's "time to end" America's longest war with the unconditional withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan where they have spent two decades in a bloody, largely fruitless battle against the Taliban.

Dubbed the "forever war," the US military onslaught in Afghanistan began in response to the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks against the United States.

Watch |&nbsp;

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&nbsp;

Now, 20 years later -- after almost 2,400 US military and tens of thousands of Afghan deaths -- Biden is naming September 11 as the deadline by which the last US soldiers will have finally departed.

The war is at best at a stalemate.

The internationally backed government in Kabul has only tenuous control in swaths of the country, while the Taliban are growing in strength, with many predicting the insurgency will seek to regain total power once the government's US military umbrella is removed.

In a speech later Wednesday, Biden was to tell Americans that it's time to accept the reality that there's no alternative to a clean break.

"We cannot continue the cycle of extending or expanding our military presence in Afghanistan hoping to create the ideal conditions for our withdrawal, expecting a different result," he was to say, according to excerpts released ahead of his speech.

"I am now the fourth American president to preside over an American troop presence in Afghanistan. Two Republicans. Two Democrats," he said. "I will not pass this responsibility to a fifth."

Biden's decision is not a shock. The war is hugely unpopular among voters and Biden's predecessor Donald Trump had committed to an even earlier exit of May 1.

Biden ally Senator Bernie Sanders called it "brave."

However, there was immediate criticism from some quarters that the United States is abandoning the Afghan government and encouraging jihadist insurgencies.

"Wars don't end when one side abandons the fight," influential Republican Representative Liz Cheney said.

"Withdrawing our forces from Afghanistan by Sept 11 will only embolden the very jihadists who attacked our homeland on that day 20 years ago."

'Recipe' for forever war&nbsp;

Biden was set to say in his speech that Washington will continue to support the Afghan government, only not "militarily."

This will mark a profound shift in clout for the beleaguered government and its US and coalition-trained security forces.

A senior administration official said the US military exit would be completed by September 11.

Biden had earlier considered stationing a residual US force to strike at Al-Qaeda or other international jihadist groups in Afghanistan or making withdrawal contingent on progress on the ground or in slow-moving peace talks.

In the end, he decided to leave only personnel to guard installations like the US embassy in Kabul, a senior official said.

"The president has judged that a conditions-based approach, which has been the approach of the past two decades, is a recipe for staying in Afghanistan forever," the official told reporters on condition of anonymity.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the moment had arrived to bring forces back home, and Washington would work out a "coordinated" withdrawal plan with its NATO allies.

"Together, we have achieved the goals that we set out to achieve and now it is time to bring our forces home," Blinken said ahead of talks with NATO partners in Brussels.&nbsp;

German Defence Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer said Wednesday that NATO would likely join the US in withdrawing its troops by September.&nbsp;

The Times newspaper said Britain would withdraw its roughly 750 troops, citing sources as saying "they would struggle without American support because of a reliance on US bases and infrastructure."

Taliban 'confident'&nbsp;

The Biden official said the withdrawal would begin in May and that the delay was largely logistical, with troops possibly out of Afghanistan well before September 11.

The official warned the Taliban -- who are observing a truce with US but not with Afghan forces -- not to strike coalition forces as they leave, saying that in response to any attack "we will hit back hard."

But a threat assessment report published Tuesday by the director of US national intelligence said the Taliban "is confident it can achieve military victory."&nbsp;

The upheaval raises big questions over the future of attempts to modernize Afghanistan, especially for Afghan women who have benefited from increased rights, like access to education.

The Taliban, who enforce an austere brand of Sunni Islam, banned women from schools, offices, music and most of daily life during their 1996-2001 rule over much of Afghanistan. Two decades later, 40 percent of schoolchildren are girls.

Peace effort in Turkey&nbsp;

Biden's decision came as Turkey said it will host a US-backed peace conference from April 24 to May 4 that would bring together the Afghan government, the Taliban and international partners.

But Mohammad Naeem, spokesman for the Taliban office in Qatar, said the insurgents will not participate in any conference on Afghanistan's future "until all foreign forces completely withdraw."

A decade ago, the United States had about 100,000 troops in Afghanistan.

The troop figure by the end of Trump's presidency had gone down to 2,500. As of February this year, NATO had around 10,000 troops in Afghanistan. 
&nbsp;

President Joe Biden announced Wednesday it's "time to end" America's longest war with the unconditional withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan where they have spent two decades in a bloody, largely fruitless battle against the Taliban.

President Joe Biden announced Wednesday it's "time to end" America's longest war with the unconditional withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan where they have spent two decades in a bloody, largely fruitless battle against the Taliban. Dubbed the "forever war," the US military onslaught in Afghanistan began in response to the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks against the United States. Watch | Now, 20 years later -- after almost 2,400 US military and tens of thousands of Afghan deaths -- Biden is naming September 11 as the deadline by which the last US soldiers will have finally departed. The war is at best at a stalemate. The internationally backed government in Kabul has only tenuous control in swaths of the country, while the Taliban are growing in strength, with many predicting the insurgency will seek to regain total power once the government's US military umbrella is removed. In a speech later Wednesday, Biden was to tell Americans that it's time to accept the reality that there's no alternative to a clean break. "We cannot continue the cycle of extending or expanding our military presence in Afghanistan hoping to create the ideal conditions for our withdrawal, expecting a different result," he was to say, according to excerpts released ahead of his speech. "I am now the fourth American president to preside over an American troop presence in Afghanistan. Two Republicans. Two Democrats," he said. "I will not pass this responsibility to a fifth." Biden's decision is not a shock. The war is hugely unpopular among voters and Biden's predecessor Donald Trump had committed to an even earlier exit of May 1. Biden ally Senator Bernie Sanders called it "brave." However, there was immediate criticism from some quarters that the United States is abandoning the Afghan government and encouraging jihadist insurgencies. "Wars don't end when one side abandons the fight," influential Republican Representative Liz Cheney said. "Withdrawing our forces from Afghanistan by Sept 11 will only embolden the very jihadists who attacked our homeland on that day 20 years ago." 'Recipe' for forever war Biden was set to say in his speech that Washington will continue to support the Afghan government, only not "militarily." This will mark a profound shift in clout for the beleaguered government and its US and coalition-trained security forces. A senior administration official said the US military exit would be completed by September 11. Biden had earlier considered stationing a residual US force to strike at Al-Qaeda or other international jihadist groups in Afghanistan or making withdrawal contingent on progress on the ground or in slow-moving peace talks. In the end, he decided to leave only personnel to guard installations like the US embassy in Kabul, a senior official said. "The president has judged that a conditions-based approach, which has been the approach of the past two decades, is a recipe for staying in Afghanistan forever," the official told reporters on condition of anonymity. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the moment had arrived to bring forces back home, and Washington would work out a "coordinated" withdrawal plan with its NATO allies. "Together, we have achieved the goals that we set out to achieve and now it is time to bring our forces home," Blinken said ahead of talks with NATO partners in Brussels. German Defence Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer said Wednesday that NATO would likely join the US in withdrawing its troops by September. The Times newspaper said Britain would withdraw its roughly 750 troops, citing sources as saying "they would struggle without American support because of a reliance on US bases and infrastructure." Taliban 'confident' The Biden official said the withdrawal would begin in May and that the delay was largely logistical, with troops possibly out of Afghanistan well before September 11. The official warned the Taliban -- who are observing a truce with US but not with Afghan forces -- not to strike coalition forces as they leave, saying that in response to any attack "we will hit back hard." But a threat assessment report published Tuesday by the director of US national intelligence said the Taliban "is confident it can achieve military victory." The upheaval raises big questions over the future of attempts to modernize Afghanistan, especially for Afghan women who have benefited from increased rights, like access to education. The Taliban, who enforce an austere brand of Sunni Islam, banned women from schools, offices, music and most of daily life during their 1996-2001 rule over much of Afghanistan. Two decades later, 40 percent of schoolchildren are girls. Peace effort in Turkey Biden's decision came as Turkey said it will host a US-backed peace conference from April 24 to May 4 that would bring together the Afghan government, the Taliban and international partners. But Mohammad Naeem, spokesman for the Taliban office in Qatar, said the insurgents will not participate in any conference on Afghanistan's future "until all foreign forces completely withdraw." A decade ago, the United States had about 100,000 troops in Afghanistan. The troop figure by the end of Trump's presidency had gone down to 2,500. As of February this year, NATO had around 10,000 troops in Afghanistan.

Biden says 'time to end' US war in Afghanistan with total pullout

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday said that the moment has arrived to bring the foreign troops home, adding that Washington would engage with NATO allies on a "coordinated" pull-out.&nbsp;

"Together, we have achieved the goals that we set out to achieve and now it is time to bring our forces home," Blinken was quoted as saying by news agency AFP ahead of talks with NATO nations in Brussels.&nbsp;

Watch |&nbsp;

<div class="videoWrapper trancodeVideo"><iframe allowfullscreen="" autoplay="1" class="includeVideo" frameborder="0" height="350" src="https://www.wionews.com/videos/antony-blinken-to-return-to-brussels-for-talks-on-ukraine-afghanistan-377207/embed" style="width:100%;max-width:560px;" width="560"></iframe></div>

Blinken's comments came on a day when US President <a href="https://www.wionews.com/topics/joe-biden">Joe Biden </a>is set to formally announce that all US troops will be pulled out from Afghanistan no later than September 11, a senior official has confirmed.&nbsp;

Meanwhile, the US's NATO ally Germany has supported the move of withdrawal by September with its Defence Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer saying: "We always said: we'll go in together, we'll leave together". &nbsp;

A report in The Times claimed that Britain is also planning to pull out its troops from the country around the same time.

Also read | <a href="https://www.wionews.com/south-asia/biden-set-to-complete-withdrawal-of-remaining-us-troops-from-afghanistan-before-911-anniversary-377408">Biden set to complete withdrawal of remaining US troops from Afghanistan before 9/11 anniversary</a> 
&nbsp;

It said that UK would pull out about 750 troops, citing sources that without the US, Britain would "struggle" because of "a reliance on US bases and infrastructure."

Meanwhile, Turkey has announced an international peace conference in Afghanistan to reach a solution to end nearly 40 years of violence and chaos that has ravaged the nation.&nbsp; 
&nbsp;

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday said that the moment has arrived to bring the foreign troops home, adding that Washington would engage with NATO allies on a "coordinated" pull-out.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday said that the moment has arrived to bring the foreign troops home, adding that Washington would engage with NATO allies on a "coordinated" pull-out. "Together, we have achieved the goals that we set out to achieve and now it is time to bring our forces home," Blinken was quoted as saying by news agency AFP ahead of talks with NATO nations in Brussels. Watch | Blinken's comments came on a day when US President Joe Biden is set to formally announce that all US troops will be pulled out from Afghanistan no later than September 11, a senior official has confirmed. Meanwhile, the US's NATO ally Germany has supported the move of withdrawal by September with its Defence Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer saying: "We always said: we'll go in together, we'll leave together". A report in The Times claimed that Britain is also planning to pull out its troops from the country around the same time. Also read | Biden set to complete withdrawal of remaining US troops from Afghanistan before 9/11 anniversary It said that UK would pull out about 750 troops, citing sources that without the US, Britain would "struggle" because of "a reliance on US bases and infrastructure." Meanwhile, Turkey has announced an international peace conference in Afghanistan to reach a solution to end nearly 40 years of violence and chaos that has ravaged the nation.

'Time to bring our forces home': US on Afghan pullout

The remaining&nbsp;2,500 US troops in Afghanistan are set to be withdrawn by September 11, 2021 by President Joe Biden. US officials on Tuesday announced the withdrawal is set to take place on the same day on which the US was attacked in 2001&nbsp;by al Qaeda, triggering America’s longest-running war.

Former President Donald Trump had agreed to a May 1 deadline for withdrawal with the Taliban&nbsp;and now many US intelligence officials believe the chances of a peace deal in the country are dim. In addition, the Afghan government could struggle in holding off the insurgency by Taliban if the US withdraws its support.

<div class="videoWrapper trancodeVideo"><iframe allowfullscreen="" autoplay="1" class="includeVideo" frameborder="0" height="350" src="https://www.wionews.com/videos/antony-blinken-to-return-to-brussels-for-talks-on-ukraine-afghanistan-377207/embed" style="width:100%;max-width:560px;" width="560"></iframe></div>

Earlier, insurgents in the country had threatened to continue the series of violence in Afghanistan if the May 1 deadline was missed.

The White House official told Reuters that Biden is expected to officially announce the withdrawal on Wednesday. The withdrawal of troops will begin before May 1 and could be finished before the September 11 deadline.

Also read:&nbsp;<a href="http://13.235.153.162/world/blinken-to-return-to-brussels-for-talks-on-ukraine-afghanistan-376910" hreflang="en">Blinken to return to Brussels for talks on Ukraine, Afghanistan&nbsp;</a>

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin are expected to discuss Afghanistan with NATO allies in Belgium on Wednesday. Biden’s withdrawal confirms the trope in US administration that the military can no longer ensure peace in Afghanistan.

In the intelligence report&nbsp;which was sent to US Congress, the following is stated - “Kabul continues to face setbacks on the battlefield, and the Taliban is confident it can achieve military victory."

Also read:&nbsp;<a href="http://13.235.153.162/world/turkey-talks-on-afghanistan-likely-on-april-16-kabul-does-not-see-any-change-in-taliban-375963" hreflang="en">Turkey talks on Afghanistan likely on April 16, Kabul does not see any change in Taliban</a>

A 10-day summit is currently planned to begin starting April 24 in Istanbul to discuss Afghanistan. The Taliban has refused to participate in the discussion, saying that they would begin talking only once foreign forces had left the country.

(With inputs from agencies)

The remaining 2,500 US troops in Afghanistan are set to be withdrawn by September 11, 2021 by President Joe Biden. US officials on Tuesday announced the withdrawal is set to take place on the same day on which the US was attacked in 2001 by al Qaeda, triggering America’s longest-running war.

The remaining 2,500 US troops in Afghanistan are set to be withdrawn by September 11, 2021 by President Joe Biden. US officials on Tuesday announced the withdrawal is set to take place on the same day on which the US was attacked in 2001 by al Qaeda, triggering America’s longest-running war. Former President Donald Trump had agreed to a May 1 deadline for withdrawal with the Taliban and now many US intelligence officials believe the chances of a peace deal in the country are dim. In addition, the Afghan government could struggle in holding off the insurgency by Taliban if the US withdraws its support. Earlier, insurgents in the country had threatened to continue the series of violence in Afghanistan if the May 1 deadline was missed. The White House official told Reuters that Biden is expected to officially announce the withdrawal on Wednesday. The withdrawal of troops will begin before May 1 and could be finished before the September 11 deadline. Also read: Blinken to return to Brussels for talks on Ukraine, Afghanistan US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin are expected to discuss Afghanistan with NATO allies in Belgium on Wednesday. Biden’s withdrawal confirms the trope in US administration that the military can no longer ensure peace in Afghanistan. In the intelligence report which was sent to US Congress, the following is stated - “Kabul continues to face setbacks on the battlefield, and the Taliban is confident it can achieve military victory." Also read: Turkey talks on Afghanistan likely on April 16, Kabul does not see any change in Taliban A 10-day summit is currently planned to begin starting April 24 in Istanbul to discuss Afghanistan. The Taliban has refused to participate in the discussion, saying that they would begin talking only once foreign forces had left the country. (With inputs from agencies)

Biden set to complete withdrawal of remaining US troops from Afghanistan before 9/11 anniversary

The previous two presidents of the United States declared that they wanted to pull all US&nbsp;troops out of Afghanistan, and they both decided in the end that they could not do it.

Now President Joe Biden is facing the same issue, with a deadline less than three months away.

The Pentagon, uncertain what the new commander in chief will do, is preparing variations on a plan to stay, a plan to leave and a plan to withdraw very, very slowly — a reflection of the debate now swirling in the White House. The current deadline is May 1, in keeping with a much-violated peace agreement that calls for the complete withdrawal of the remaining 2,500 US&nbsp;forces.

The deadline is a critical decision point for Biden, and it will come months before the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks that prompted the US-led invasion of Afghanistan to root out al-Qaida.

Two decades later, the strategic goals have shifted many times, from counterterrorism and democratization to nation-building, and far more limited goals that President Barack Obama’s administration called “Afghan good enough.” Biden — who argued as vice president throughout Obama’s term for a minimal presence — will have to decide whether following his instincts to get out would run too high a risk of a takeover of the country’s key cities by the Taliban.

Biden, one senior aide noted, started his long career in the Senate just before the United States evacuated its personnel from Saigon, the capital of South Vietnam; the image of helicopters plucking Americans and a few Vietnamese from a roof was a searing symbol of a failed strategy. Biden is highly aware of the risks of something similar transpiring in Kabul, the Afghan capital, if all Western troops leave, and he has privately described the possibility as haunting, aides said.

But the president also questions whether the small remaining contingent of Americans can accomplish anything after 20 years in which almost 800,000 U.S. troops have deployed, or whether it will ever be possible to bring them home.

Biden has kept in place Zalmay Khalilzad, the longtime diplomat who had negotiated the peace agreement under President Donald Trump, in hopes of continuity in dealing with the Taliban and the Afghan government. But the key advisers on the issue are Secretary of State Antony Blinken and the national security adviser, Jake Sullivan — along with Jon Finer, Sullivan’s deputy.

By all accounts, Biden will be guided by his own experience, and he has yet to make a decision. Allies will be looking for some indications at a NATO summit meeting that starts Wednesday, though Biden’s aides say they are not rushing a critical decision.

“We are conducting a rigorous review of the situation we’ve inherited, including all relevant options and with full consideration of the consequences of any potential course of action,” said Emily J. Horne, a spokeswoman for the National Security Council. “It would be wrong for anyone to assume the outcome of that process at this point.”

At the same time, the Taliban and the Afghan government are gearing up for a violent spring. Administration officials last week started discussions over how to proceed with Afghan officials whom Trump left out of his deal with the Taliban.

One option under consideration, aides said, would be to extend the May 1 troop withdrawal deadline by six months to give all sides more time to decide how to proceed. But it is unclear that the Taliban would agree — or whether Biden would.

At the center of the decision-making is a new American president who has had to stand by for 20 years while other leaders ignored his advice on Afghanistan and committed large numbers of U.S. troops to a war effort there, overriding his argument that all the United States needed was a streamlined, focused counterterrorism presence.

The decision is harder because if Biden decides to withdraw, he will bear some responsibility — and much of the blame — if there is a collapse of the elected Afghan government that U.S. troops and their NATO allies have fought and died for and spent billions of dollars propping up.

In the panoply of foreign policy decisions facing the president, he and his senior national security aides do not view Afghanistan as the most far-reaching. The right relationship with China is far more central to American prosperity. Carrying through on Biden’s promise not to let Russia roll over the United States is more important to its security. The Iranian nuclear program looms over Middle East calculations. Afghanistan is deeply personal to him, and the most influential voice the president will listen to may be his own.

“His head is more in the game on this because he has been connecting with these people around the world for years,” said Brian Katulis, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, a Washington think tank with close ties to the Biden administration.

Katulis recalled bumping into Biden at the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad in 2008, when the president was a senator visiting the country as part of a congressional tour with his colleagues John Kerry, who would become secretary of state, and Chuck Hagel, who would become secretary of defense. It was midnight in the hotel’s executive club, Katulis recalled, and Biden wanted to chat South Asia. For two hours.

“He was just energized by this issue,” Katulis said.

The May 1 deadline, enshrined in a peace deal reached with the Taliban nearly a year ago, will be the focus of the meeting in Brussels this week of allied defense ministers, including Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin. There are now more than twice as many troops from NATO allies in Afghanistan as there are Americans, and as they gauge their own commitment to the country, they are looking to Biden and Austin for a road map.

The president is already being lobbied by the same voices that, for the past 20 years, have advocated maintaining at least a limited troop presence in Afghanistan.

In December, before Biden was inaugurated, the bipartisan, congressionally appointed Afghan Study Group run by the United States Institute of Peace met with his foreign policy advisers to brief them on a report on Afghanistan. The report, which was released Feb. 3, argued, in essence, for abandoning the May 1 timetable by saying that the Taliban had not met the conditions for a US&nbsp;withdrawal as set by the Trump-Taliban agreement.

The group said that going to zero troops, as the Trump-Taliban agreement called for, would lead to civil war, set back American interests in the region and render pointless the sacrifice of 3,500 coalition troops killed prosecuting the U.S.-led war effort in Afghanistan.

John F. Kirby, the new Pentagon press secretary, insisted that the Biden administration stood by the agreement, with its commitment for a full troop withdrawal, but he expressed pessimism that the Taliban would do what they were supposed to: Cut ties with al-Qaida and reduce violence.

“Without them meeting their commitments to renounce terrorism and to stop the violent attacks against the Afghan National Security Forces, it’s very hard to see a specific way forward for the negotiated settlement,” Kirby said. “But we’re still committed to that.”

But that was the standard line from the Pentagon even during the Trump administration. What is unclear at this point is where Biden falls on the spectrum.

When he was vice president, he battled Pentagon leaders in urging his boss, Obama, to limit the number of US&nbsp;troops in Afghanistan.

“Joe and a sizable number of NSC staffers,” Obama wrote in his memoir, “A Promised Land,” viewed a proposal by Gen. Stanley McChrystal to surge tens of thousands of troops into the country “as just the latest attempt by an unrestrained military to drag the country deeper into a futile, wildly expensive nation-building exercise, when we could and should be narrowly focused on counterterrorism efforts.”

Although Biden lost the argument in 2009, Obama came around to his position by the end of his presidency after hundreds of Americans and allied troops had been killed and the gains of the surge had been mostly lost to the Taliban.

Biden must decide whether it is possible to defeat terrorist groups even if there is no physical troop presence. Aides say he is acutely aware that most Americans are tired of the war and doubtful that continued spending, in blood and treasure, will accomplish anything. And Afghanistan, without doubt, has receded in the public consciousness.

For Biden, that could change the instant that Afghanistan is used again as a base from which to launch another terrorist attack on the United States or Western targets. For an example, he needs only to look to Iraq and the rise of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, which followed Obama’s withdrawal of U.S. troops in 2011 after the end of the combat mission there.

Critics contend that the Taliban have not yet pledged to cut ties to al-Qaida and other terrorist groups threatening the United States, as the February 2020 agreement called for.

Moreover, some analysts say that the Taliban, bolstered by battlefield triumphs and success at the bargaining table in Qatar in winning the release of more than 5,000 prisoners, remain confident they can wait out the new administration and have little incentive to compromise.

Gen. Joseph Dunford, a retired four-star Marine general and a former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who helped lead the Afghan Study Group, said the United States still had leverage. Dunford, a former top commander in Afghanistan, said that beyond increased battlefield pressure, the Taliban want international recognition as a legitimate political movement and a relief from punishing economic sanctions.

One option gaining traction among some former diplomats and Afghanistan specialists is for Washington, working with its allies, to negotiate a monthslong extension to the troop withdrawal deadline. That would buy time for the new administration to bolster the peace talks in Qatar; rally support from other states in the region, including Pakistan; and conduct a new assessment of the future terrorism threat in Afghanistan.

“It won’t be easy, but it’s feasible,” said Laurel E. Miller, a former top State Department official who worked on Afghanistan and Pakistan diplomacy for Obama and Trump. “The Taliban has an interest in keeping the process going because the process has been working for them.”

If that approach fails, however, the Taliban have threatened to resume attacks against American and other NATO forces if the United States unilaterally decides to keep its 2,500 troops in the country beyond the May deadline. The U.S. forces are now hunkered down in about a dozen bases and perform two main missions: counterterrorism operations and advising Afghan security forces at various headquarters.

Preparing for the possibility of renewed attacks against Americans, the military’s Central Command has been ordered to draw up a wide range of options to cover whether troops stay or go, and to counter even higher levels of Taliban violence, Pentagon officials say.

The administration could, for instance, temporarily increase the number of troops in the country, reversing Trump’s order to cut forces in the final weeks of his term. That could prove politically risky for Biden as he seeks to push higher-priority legislation, such as pandemic relief, through Congress.

Another option would be to increase the number of American airstrikes against Taliban targets across the country, like the fighters threatening major Afghan cities such as Kabul and Kandahar. This could require sending more strike aircraft to land at bases in the Middle East or ensuring that an aircraft carrier with its strike wing is operating in the Persian Gulf region, military officials said.

Kelly A. Ayotte, a former Republican senator from New Hampshire and another leader of the congressionally mandated Afghanistan commission, summed up the sentiment of not only panel members but many administration officials.

“It is not whether we leave,” she said, “but it’s how we leave.”

The previous two presidents of the United States declared that they wanted to pull all US troops out of Afghanistan, and they both decided in the end that they could not do it.

The previous two presidents of the United States declared that they wanted to pull all US troops out of Afghanistan, and they both decided in the end that they could not do it. Now President Joe Biden is facing the same issue, with a deadline less than three months away. The Pentagon, uncertain what the new commander in chief will do, is preparing variations on a plan to stay, a plan to leave and a plan to withdraw very, very slowly — a reflection of the debate now swirling in the White House. The current deadline is May 1, in keeping with a much-violated peace agreement that calls for the complete withdrawal of the remaining 2,500 US forces. The deadline is a critical decision point for Biden, and it will come months before the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks that prompted the US-led invasion of Afghanistan to root out al-Qaida. Two decades later, the strategic goals have shifted many times, from counterterrorism and democratization to nation-building, and far more limited goals that President Barack Obama’s administration called “Afghan good enough.” Biden — who argued as vice president throughout Obama’s term for a minimal presence — will have to decide whether following his instincts to get out would run too high a risk of a takeover of the country’s key cities by the Taliban. Biden, one senior aide noted, started his long career in the Senate just before the United States evacuated its personnel from Saigon, the capital of South Vietnam; the image of helicopters plucking Americans and a few Vietnamese from a roof was a searing symbol of a failed strategy. Biden is highly aware of the risks of something similar transpiring in Kabul, the Afghan capital, if all Western troops leave, and he has privately described the possibility as haunting, aides said. But the president also questions whether the small remaining contingent of Americans can accomplish anything after 20 years in which almost 800,000 U.S. troops have deployed, or whether it will ever be possible to bring them home. Biden has kept in place Zalmay Khalilzad, the longtime diplomat who had negotiated the peace agreement under President Donald Trump, in hopes of continuity in dealing with the Taliban and the Afghan government. But the key advisers on the issue are Secretary of State Antony Blinken and the national security adviser, Jake Sullivan — along with Jon Finer, Sullivan’s deputy. By all accounts, Biden will be guided by his own experience, and he has yet to make a decision. Allies will be looking for some indications at a NATO summit meeting that starts Wednesday, though Biden’s aides say they are not rushing a critical decision. “We are conducting a rigorous review of the situation we’ve inherited, including all relevant options and with full consideration of the consequences of any potential course of action,” said Emily J. Horne, a spokeswoman for the National Security Council. “It would be wrong for anyone to assume the outcome of that process at this point.” At the same time, the Taliban and the Afghan government are gearing up for a violent spring. Administration officials last week started discussions over how to proceed with Afghan officials whom Trump left out of his deal with the Taliban. One option under consideration, aides said, would be to extend the May 1 troop withdrawal deadline by six months to give all sides more time to decide how to proceed. But it is unclear that the Taliban would agree — or whether Biden would. At the center of the decision-making is a new American president who has had to stand by for 20 years while other leaders ignored his advice on Afghanistan and committed large numbers of U.S. troops to a war effort there, overriding his argument that all the United States needed was a streamlined, focused counterterrorism presence. The decision is harder because if Biden decides to withdraw, he will bear some responsibility — and much of the blame — if there is a collapse of the elected Afghan government that U.S. troops and their NATO allies have fought and died for and spent billions of dollars propping up. In the panoply of foreign policy decisions facing the president, he and his senior national security aides do not view Afghanistan as the most far-reaching. The right relationship with China is far more central to American prosperity. Carrying through on Biden’s promise not to let Russia roll over the United States is more important to its security. The Iranian nuclear program looms over Middle East calculations. Afghanistan is deeply personal to him, and the most influential voice the president will listen to may be his own. “His head is more in the game on this because he has been connecting with these people around the world for years,” said Brian Katulis, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, a Washington think tank with close ties to the Biden administration. Katulis recalled bumping into Biden at the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad in 2008, when the president was a senator visiting the country as part of a congressional tour with his colleagues John Kerry, who would become secretary of state, and Chuck Hagel, who would become secretary of defense. It was midnight in the hotel’s executive club, Katulis recalled, and Biden wanted to chat South Asia. For two hours. “He was just energized by this issue,” Katulis said. The May 1 deadline, enshrined in a peace deal reached with the Taliban nearly a year ago, will be the focus of the meeting in Brussels this week of allied defense ministers, including Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin. There are now more than twice as many troops from NATO allies in Afghanistan as there are Americans, and as they gauge their own commitment to the country, they are looking to Biden and Austin for a road map. The president is already being lobbied by the same voices that, for the past 20 years, have advocated maintaining at least a limited troop presence in Afghanistan. In December, before Biden was inaugurated, the bipartisan, congressionally appointed Afghan Study Group run by the United States Institute of Peace met with his foreign policy advisers to brief them on a report on Afghanistan. The report, which was released Feb. 3, argued, in essence, for abandoning the May 1 timetable by saying that the Taliban had not met the conditions for a US withdrawal as set by the Trump-Taliban agreement. The group said that going to zero troops, as the Trump-Taliban agreement called for, would lead to civil war, set back American interests in the region and render pointless the sacrifice of 3,500 coalition troops killed prosecuting the U.S.-led war effort in Afghanistan. John F. Kirby, the new Pentagon press secretary, insisted that the Biden administration stood by the agreement, with its commitment for a full troop withdrawal, but he expressed pessimism that the Taliban would do what they were supposed to: Cut ties with al-Qaida and reduce violence. “Without them meeting their commitments to renounce terrorism and to stop the violent attacks against the Afghan National Security Forces, it’s very hard to see a specific way forward for the negotiated settlement,” Kirby said. “But we’re still committed to that.” But that was the standard line from the Pentagon even during the Trump administration. What is unclear at this point is where Biden falls on the spectrum. When he was vice president, he battled Pentagon leaders in urging his boss, Obama, to limit the number of US troops in Afghanistan. “Joe and a sizable number of NSC staffers,” Obama wrote in his memoir, “A Promised Land,” viewed a proposal by Gen. Stanley McChrystal to surge tens of thousands of troops into the country “as just the latest attempt by an unrestrained military to drag the country deeper into a futile, wildly expensive nation-building exercise, when we could and should be narrowly focused on counterterrorism efforts.” Although Biden lost the argument in 2009, Obama came around to his position by the end of his presidency after hundreds of Americans and allied troops had been killed and the gains of the surge had been mostly lost to the Taliban. Biden must decide whether it is possible to defeat terrorist groups even if there is no physical troop presence. Aides say he is acutely aware that most Americans are tired of the war and doubtful that continued spending, in blood and treasure, will accomplish anything. And Afghanistan, without doubt, has receded in the public consciousness. For Biden, that could change the instant that Afghanistan is used again as a base from which to launch another terrorist attack on the United States or Western targets. For an example, he needs only to look to Iraq and the rise of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, which followed Obama’s withdrawal of U.S. troops in 2011 after the end of the combat mission there. Critics contend that the Taliban have not yet pledged to cut ties to al-Qaida and other terrorist groups threatening the United States, as the February 2020 agreement called for. Moreover, some analysts say that the Taliban, bolstered by battlefield triumphs and success at the bargaining table in Qatar in winning the release of more than 5,000 prisoners, remain confident they can wait out the new administration and have little incentive to compromise. Gen. Joseph Dunford, a retired four-star Marine general and a former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who helped lead the Afghan Study Group, said the United States still had leverage. Dunford, a former top commander in Afghanistan, said that beyond increased battlefield pressure, the Taliban want international recognition as a legitimate political movement and a relief from punishing economic sanctions. One option gaining traction among some former diplomats and Afghanistan specialists is for Washington, working with its allies, to negotiate a monthslong extension to the troop withdrawal deadline. That would buy time for the new administration to bolster the peace talks in Qatar; rally support from other states in the region, including Pakistan; and conduct a new assessment of the future terrorism threat in Afghanistan. “It won’t be easy, but it’s feasible,” said Laurel E. Miller, a former top State Department official who worked on Afghanistan and Pakistan diplomacy for Obama and Trump. “The Taliban has an interest in keeping the process going because the process has been working for them.” If that approach fails, however, the Taliban have threatened to resume attacks against American and other NATO forces if the United States unilaterally decides to keep its 2,500 troops in the country beyond the May deadline. The U.S. forces are now hunkered down in about a dozen bases and perform two main missions: counterterrorism operations and advising Afghan security forces at various headquarters. Preparing for the possibility of renewed attacks against Americans, the military’s Central Command has been ordered to draw up a wide range of options to cover whether troops stay or go, and to counter even higher levels of Taliban violence, Pentagon officials say. The administration could, for instance, temporarily increase the number of troops in the country, reversing Trump’s order to cut forces in the final weeks of his term. That could prove politically risky for Biden as he seeks to push higher-priority legislation, such as pandemic relief, through Congress. Another option would be to increase the number of American airstrikes against Taliban targets across the country, like the fighters threatening major Afghan cities such as Kabul and Kandahar. This could require sending more strike aircraft to land at bases in the Middle East or ensuring that an aircraft carrier with its strike wing is operating in the Persian Gulf region, military officials said. Kelly A. Ayotte, a former Republican senator from New Hampshire and another leader of the congressionally mandated Afghanistan commission, summed up the sentiment of not only panel members but many administration officials. “It is not whether we leave,” she said, “but it’s how we leave.”

Stay or go? Biden, long a critic of Afghan deployments, faces a deadline

As the Trump administration prepares US troops to pull out of<a href="https://www.wionews.com/south-asia/afghan-forces-kill-taliban-mastermind-of-ghazni-attack-346451"> Afghanistan</a>, German foreign minister Heiko Maas said today that premature withdrawal should not take place as it could jeopardise the peace negotiations.

Watch:

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The German minister's comments come as Taliban and <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/british-military-dog-gets-victoria-cross-for-charging-al-qaeda-gunman-in-afghanistan-345234">Afghan</a> government officials get ready for the next round of peace talks.

The United States has agreed to withdraw all foreign forces in the country in exchange for security guarantees and for the Taliban's pledge to hold talks with the Ghani government.

"As NATO partners, we want to ensure that we tie further troop reductions in Afghanistan to clear conditions," the German foreign minister said, adding,"to safeguard what we have reached so far, we must not take any rash actions."

"This is why we call on the alliance to have a very close look at how far the conditions for a further withdrawal have been met to avoid sending a wrong message regarding the peace process," Maas added.

Germany had earlier sought "more clarity" on the US plan to pull out of the country.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had earlier met the two sides in Doha calling for "expedited discussions" after talks got underway in September but soon broke down over difference between the Taliban and the government as the violence began to escalate in the region.

Britain's ally the United Kingdom had said that it will follow the United States in reducing troop levels in Afghanistan. "I expect if they (the US) are reducing at some stage, we will come down," defence secretary Ben Wallace had said.

The Pentagon had said earlier that it pull out nearly 2,000 troops from Afghanistan and would ensure the full withdrawal of all troops in mid-2021.

As the Trump administration prepares US troops to pull out of Afghanistan, German foreign minister Heiko Maas said today that premature withdrawal should not take place as it could jeopardise the peace negotiations.

As the Trump administration prepares US troops to pull out of Afghanistan, German foreign minister Heiko Maas said today that premature withdrawal should not take place as it could jeopardise the peace negotiations. Watch: The German minister's comments come as Taliban and Afghan government officials get ready for the next round of peace talks. The United States has agreed to withdraw all foreign forces in the country in exchange for security guarantees and for the Taliban's pledge to hold talks with the Ghani government. "As NATO partners, we want to ensure that we tie further troop reductions in Afghanistan to clear conditions," the German foreign minister said, adding,"to safeguard what we have reached so far, we must not take any rash actions." "This is why we call on the alliance to have a very close look at how far the conditions for a further withdrawal have been met to avoid sending a wrong message regarding the peace process," Maas added. Germany had earlier sought "more clarity" on the US plan to pull out of the country. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had earlier met the two sides in Doha calling for "expedited discussions" after talks got underway in September but soon broke down over difference between the Taliban and the government as the violence began to escalate in the region. Britain's ally the United Kingdom had said that it will follow the United States in reducing troop levels in Afghanistan. "I expect if they (the US) are reducing at some stage, we will come down," defence secretary Ben Wallace had said. The Pentagon had said earlier that it pull out nearly 2,000 troops from Afghanistan and would ensure the full withdrawal of all troops in mid-2021.

Germany warns against 'rash actions' over troop withdrawal from Afghanistan

Amid reports of troop pullout from<a href="https://www.wionews.com/south-asia/afghanistan-strongly-rejects-claims-of-its-territory-being-used-for-terror-acts-against-pakistan-343314"> Afghanistan</a> and Iraq, NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg warned that "hasty" troop pullout from Afghanistan could have "high price".

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/trump-expected-to-order-troop-withdrawals-from-afghanistan-and-iraq-343673">Also Read:&nbsp;Trump expected to order troop withdrawal from Afghanistan and Iraq</a>

Pentagon has reportedly announced US troop withdrawal from <a href="https://www.wionews.com/south-asia/two-killed-in-car-bombing-outside-army-camp-in-afghanistan-capital-342919">Afghanistan</a> and Iraq and reportedly issued a "warning order".

The US plan is to reportedly bring back 2,500 troops from Afghanistan and 2,500 in Iraq by January 15. There are currently around 4,500 US troops in Afghanistan and 3,000 troops in Iraq.

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/south-asia/afghanistan-captures-mastermind-of-kabul-university-attack-343148">Also Read:&nbsp;Afghanistan captures mastermind of Kabul university attack</a>

Trump in a tweet had earlier said: "We should have the small remaining number of our brave&nbsp;and women serving in Afghanistan home by Christmas!"

Meanwhile, US Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell warned that troop reduction in Afghanistan and Iraq would result in a "big propaganda victory" for the terrorists in the region.

"The consequences of a premature US exit would likely be even worse than President<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/spent-childhood-listening-to-ramayana-and-mahabharata-barack-obama-in-memoir-343642"> Obama's</a> withdrawal from Iraq back in 2011, which fueled the rise of ISIS and a new round of global terrorism," McConnell told the US Senate.

"It would be reminiscent of the humiliating America departure from Saigon in 1975," McConnell added. Former defense secretary Mark Esper who was fired by President Trump recently had reportedly insisted on keeping 4,500 troops in Afghanistan due to attacks by the Taliban.

"The spectacle of US troops abandoning facilities and equipment, leaving the field in Afghanistan to the Taliban and ISIS, would be broadcast around the world as a symbol of US defeat and humiliation, and a victory for Islamic extremism," Mitch McConnell who is believed to be close ally of Trump, said.

"It would hand a weakened and scattered Al-Qaeda a big, big propaganda victory and a renewed safe haven for plotting attacks against America," McConnell added. &nbsp;

Amid reports of troop pullout from Afghanistan and Iraq, NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg warned that "hasty" troop pullout from Afghanistan could have "high price". Also Read: Trump expected to order troop withdrawal from Afghanistan and Iraq Pentagon has reportedly announced US troop withdrawal from Afghanistan and Iraq and reportedly issued a "warning order".

Amid reports of troop pullout from Afghanistan and Iraq, NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg warned that "hasty" troop pullout from Afghanistan could have "high price". Also Read: Trump expected to order troop withdrawal from Afghanistan and Iraq Pentagon has reportedly announced US troop withdrawal from Afghanistan and Iraq and reportedly issued a "warning order". The US plan is to reportedly bring back 2,500 troops from Afghanistan and 2,500 in Iraq by January 15. There are currently around 4,500 US troops in Afghanistan and 3,000 troops in Iraq. Also Read: Afghanistan captures mastermind of Kabul university attack Trump in a tweet had earlier said: "We should have the small remaining number of our brave and women serving in Afghanistan home by Christmas!" Meanwhile, US Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell warned that troop reduction in Afghanistan and Iraq would result in a "big propaganda victory" for the terrorists in the region. "The consequences of a premature US exit would likely be even worse than President Obama's withdrawal from Iraq back in 2011, which fueled the rise of ISIS and a new round of global terrorism," McConnell told the US Senate. "It would be reminiscent of the humiliating America departure from Saigon in 1975," McConnell added. Former defense secretary Mark Esper who was fired by President Trump recently had reportedly insisted on keeping 4,500 troops in Afghanistan due to attacks by the Taliban. "The spectacle of US troops abandoning facilities and equipment, leaving the field in Afghanistan to the Taliban and ISIS, would be broadcast around the world as a symbol of US defeat and humiliation, and a victory for Islamic extremism," Mitch McConnell who is believed to be close ally of Trump, said. "It would hand a weakened and scattered Al-Qaeda a big, big propaganda victory and a renewed safe haven for plotting attacks against America," McConnell added.

Hasty pullout of US & allied troops from Afghanistan could exact 'very high' price: NATO chief Stoltenberg

US President Donald Trump's announcement of completing the troop withdrawal from Afghanistan by Christmas has taken aback nation's military, with officials saying they haven't been informed about the process and concerned over its impact on Taliban-Afghanistan peace talks.&nbsp;

Trump on Wednesday tweeted that the remaining number of "brave" US military personnel would return by Christmas, a move welcomed by the Taliban.&nbsp;

Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/south-asia/nato-chief-says-allies-will-leave-afghanistan-together-333582">NATO chief says allies will leave Afghanistan together</a>

He elaborated his announcement in an interview to Fox News, saying: "We're down to 4,000 troops in Afghanistan. I'll have them home by the end of the year. They're coming home, you know, as we speak. Nineteen years is enough. They're acting as policemen, OK? They're not acting as troops."

Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/south-asia/donald-trump-wants-us-forces-to-pull-out-from-afghanistan-by-christmas-333352">Donald Trump wants US forces to pull out from Afghanistan by Christmas</a>

Several US officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity said they were not informed about any new deadline, reported news agency The Associated Press.

In fact, they pointed to remarks by National Security Adviser Robert O'Brien on Wednesday, in which he said: "as of today, there are under 5,000 and that will go to 2,500 by early next year".

The US military has also continually said that counterterrorism personnel would remain in Afghanistan for some time in view of threats by al-Qaida and Islamic State.&nbsp;

The US has earlier maintained that any troop withdrawal from Afghanistan would depend on the situation on the ground and a considerable reduction in Taliban attacks.&nbsp;

US President Donald Trump's announcement of completing the troop withdrawal from Afghanistan by Christmas has taken aback nation's military, with officials saying they haven't been informed about the process and concerned over its impact on Taliban-Afghanistan peace talks.

US President Donald Trump's announcement of completing the troop withdrawal from Afghanistan by Christmas has taken aback nation's military, with officials saying they haven't been informed about the process and concerned over its impact on Taliban-Afghanistan peace talks. Trump on Wednesday tweeted that the remaining number of "brave" US military personnel would return by Christmas, a move welcomed by the Taliban. Also read | NATO chief says allies will leave Afghanistan together He elaborated his announcement in an interview to Fox News, saying: "We're down to 4,000 troops in Afghanistan. I'll have them home by the end of the year. They're coming home, you know, as we speak. Nineteen years is enough. They're acting as policemen, OK? They're not acting as troops." Also read | Donald Trump wants US forces to pull out from Afghanistan by Christmas Several US officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity said they were not informed about any new deadline, reported news agency The Associated Press. In fact, they pointed to remarks by National Security Adviser Robert O'Brien on Wednesday, in which he said: "as of today, there are under 5,000 and that will go to 2,500 by early next year". The US military has also continually said that counterterrorism personnel would remain in Afghanistan for some time in view of threats by al-Qaida and Islamic State. The US has earlier maintained that any troop withdrawal from Afghanistan would depend on the situation on the ground and a considerable reduction in Taliban attacks.

US military startled with Trump's announcement of complete troop withdrawal from Afghanistan

US President Donald Trump on Wednesday said his administration wants all US forces to pull out of Afghanistan by Christmas, speeding up the process to end America's longest war.&nbsp;

"We should have the small remaining number of our BRAVE Men and Women serving in Afghanistan home by Christmas!" Trump said on Twitter.

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We should have the small remaining number of our BRAVE Men and Women serving in Afghanistan home by Christmas!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1313984510749544450?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 7, 2020</a></blockquote>
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Trump's remarks came when the presidential election in the US is less than 30 days away and he aspires to show that he delivered on his promise that the country should stop "endless wars".

Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/south-asia/taliban-afghan-negotiators-set-ground-rules-to-safeguard-peace-talks-sources-332896">Taliban, Afghan negotiators set ground rules to safeguard peace talks: Sources</a>

Washington, in a historic deal with the Taliban on February 29, vowed to pull out its forces from Afghanistan by mid-2021 and the insurgent group in return committed to not let other extremist groups flourish in the region.&nbsp;

Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/south-asia/eight-killed-in-attack-targetting-afghan-governor-332763">Eight killed in attack targetting Afghan governor</a>

Last month, talks between the Taliban and Afghan government began in Doha, although the discussions soon ended up in a deadlock.

Trump's decision for troop withdrawal gained widespread support, including his Democratic rival Joe Biden who during his vice-presidential tenure had pushed to limit the nation's involvement in Afghanistan.&nbsp;

(with inputs from AFP) 
&nbsp;

US President Donald Trump on Wednesday said his administration wants all US forces to pull out of Afghanistan by Christmas, speeding up the process to end America's longest war.

US President Donald Trump on Wednesday said his administration wants all US forces to pull out of Afghanistan by Christmas, speeding up the process to end America's longest war. "We should have the small remaining number of our BRAVE Men and Women serving in Afghanistan home by Christmas!" Trump said on Twitter. We should have the small remaining number of our BRAVE Men and Women serving in Afghanistan home by Christmas! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 7, 2020 × Trump's remarks came when the presidential election in the US is less than 30 days away and he aspires to show that he delivered on his promise that the country should stop "endless wars". Also read | Taliban, Afghan negotiators set ground rules to safeguard peace talks: Sources Washington, in a historic deal with the Taliban on February 29, vowed to pull out its forces from Afghanistan by mid-2021 and the insurgent group in return committed to not let other extremist groups flourish in the region. Also read | Eight killed in attack targetting Afghan governor Last month, talks between the Taliban and Afghan government began in Doha, although the discussions soon ended up in a deadlock. Trump's decision for troop withdrawal gained widespread support, including his Democratic rival Joe Biden who during his vice-presidential tenure had pushed to limit the nation's involvement in Afghanistan. (with inputs from AFP)

Donald Trump wants US forces to pull out from Afghanistan by Christmas

Iran is accused of offering bounties to attack American and coalition troops stationed in Afghanistan, which includes more than 6 attacks. Watch report.

Iran bounties on US troops: US pinpoints payments at Iran's behest

A Republican congressman revealed on Monday that&nbsp;he was told Russia was offering bounties to the Taliban to kill US&nbsp;troops when he served in Afghanistan - meaning scandal could go back to 2014.

Republican Congressman Jim Banks of Indiana, after he left the briefing, tweeted that the payments went back to his service in Afghanistan.

He was deployed in Afghanistan during Operations Enduring Freedom and Freedom’s Sentinel in 2014 and 2015, according to his official biography, and he&nbsp;currently serves in the US&nbsp;Navy Reserve as a Supply Corps officer.&nbsp;

''Having served in Afghanistan during the time the alleged bounties were placed, no one is angrier about this than me,'' he wrote.&nbsp;

<img alt="Trump" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="93340400-d507-4061-8552-c0b29df95a28" src="//cdn.wionews.com/sites/default/files/inline-images/Untitled%20design%20%2865%29_3.jpg" />

The&nbsp;New York Times, which broke the story on Friday, indicated from their intelligence sources that the bounties went back to 2019 or possibly 2018.&nbsp;

This comes as Senate Republicans are calling for a tougher posture against Russia following reports that the country’s military spy unit offered to pay Taliban-linked militants to attack US&nbsp;troops in Afghanistan, putting the GOP lawmakers once again potentially at odds with President Trump over how to combat Moscow’s aggression toward the United States.

Meanwhile,&nbsp;Trump and the White House repeatedly denied Monday that the president had been briefed on the efforts against coalition forces in Afghanistan, which are believed to have led to the deaths of several U.S. service members

A group of House Democrats will be briefed at the White House at 8 am on Tuesday, according to an aide for Democratic Congressman Steny Hoyer, the majority leader.

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, a Democrat from California, said he would be attending the White House briefing on Tuesday.

A Republican congressman revealed on Monday that he was told Russia was offering bounties to the Taliban to kill US troops when he served in Afghanistan - meaning scandal could go back to 2014.

A Republican congressman revealed on Monday that he was told Russia was offering bounties to the Taliban to kill US troops when he served in Afghanistan - meaning scandal could go back to 2014. Republican Congressman Jim Banks of Indiana, after he left the briefing, tweeted that the payments went back to his service in Afghanistan. He was deployed in Afghanistan during Operations Enduring Freedom and Freedom’s Sentinel in 2014 and 2015, according to his official biography, and he currently serves in the US Navy Reserve as a Supply Corps officer. ''Having served in Afghanistan during the time the alleged bounties were placed, no one is angrier about this than me,'' he wrote. The New York Times, which broke the story on Friday, indicated from their intelligence sources that the bounties went back to 2019 or possibly 2018. This comes as Senate Republicans are calling for a tougher posture against Russia following reports that the country’s military spy unit offered to pay Taliban-linked militants to attack US troops in Afghanistan, putting the GOP lawmakers once again potentially at odds with President Trump over how to combat Moscow’s aggression toward the United States. Meanwhile, Trump and the White House repeatedly denied Monday that the president had been briefed on the efforts against coalition forces in Afghanistan, which are believed to have led to the deaths of several U.S. service members A group of House Democrats will be briefed at the White House at 8 am on Tuesday, according to an aide for Democratic Congressman Steny Hoyer, the majority leader. House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, a Democrat from California, said he would be attending the White House briefing on Tuesday.

Republican congressman knew about Russia's bounty offer to kill US troops in 2014

Russia has denied reports that it offered Taliban-linked militants bounties to kill US troops in Afghanistan, a BBC report said. Earlier, The New York Times reported that a Russian military intelligence unit offered the alleged bounties last year.

Russia has denied reports that it offered Taliban-linked militants bounties to kill US troops in Afghanistan, a BBC report said. Earlier, The New York Times reported that a Russian military intelligence unit offered the alleged bounties last year. The same unit has been linked to assassination attempts in Europe. Nobody briefed or told me, @VP Pence, or Chief of Staff @MarkMeadows about the so-called attacks on our troops in Afghanistan by Russians, as reported through an “anonymous source” by the Fake News @nytimes. Everybody is denying it & there have not been many attacks on us..... — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 28, 2020 × The Russian embassy in the US said the claims had led to threats to diplomats. The Taliban also denied doing any deal with Russian intelligence, the report added. The reports come as the US attempts to negotiate a peace deal to end the 19-year war in Afghanistan. Stop producing #fakenews that provoke life threats, @nytimes. We demand the relevant #US authorities take effective measures to ensure the fulfillment of their international obligations under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations of 1961. @StateDept @FBI @DHSgov ⬇️ https://t.co/Ows7srg3IH — Russia in USA 🇷🇺 (@RusEmbUSA) June 27, 2020 × The purported bounties gave incentives to the guerrillas to target US forces, just as President Donald Trump tries to withdraw troops and end America's longest war. The newspaper, citing anonymous officials, said that Trump was briefed on the findings in March, but has not decided how to respond.

Russia denies paying militants to kill US troops in Afghanistan

The United States conducted airstrikes against Taliban positions in Afghanistan for the first time since the start of the Eid ceasefire.

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USFOR-A conducted 2 airstrikes on June 4 to disrupt coord. TB attacks on ANDSF checkpoints, IAW the US-TB agrmt. We reiterate: All sides must reduce violence to allow the peace process to take hold. These were the 1st US airstrikes against TB since the start of the Eid ceasefire
— USFOR-A Spokesman Col Sonny Leggett (@USFOR_A) <a href="https://twitter.com/USFOR_A/status/1268848676249755648?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 5, 2020</a></blockquote>
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USFOR-A spokesman Col. Sonny Leggett said the airstrikes were conducted in southern Kandahar province and western Farah province against Taliban fighters who had attacked Afghan army checkpoints.

“All sides must reduce violence to allow the peace process to take hold,” Leggett added.

The Taliban had earlier announced a ceasefire with Afghan forces which ended on May 26 as Eid ended.&nbsp;

The US had reached a deal with the Taliban in February ensuring it would pull its troops from the country in return for security guarantees, however, the Taliban and the Afghan government have been at loggerheads with each other.

Although under the agreement the US and Taliban were supposed to refrain from attacking each other but the US had said last month that it&nbsp;would conduct "defensive strikes" against the Taliban if&nbsp;they attacked Afghan forces.

The United States conducted airstrikes against Taliban positions in Afghanistan for the first time since the start of the Eid ceasefire. USFOR-A conducted 2 airstrikes on June 4 to disrupt coord.

The United States conducted airstrikes against Taliban positions in Afghanistan for the first time since the start of the Eid ceasefire. USFOR-A conducted 2 airstrikes on June 4 to disrupt coord. TB attacks on ANDSF checkpoints, IAW the US-TB agrmt. We reiterate: All sides must reduce violence to allow the peace process to take hold. These were the 1st US airstrikes against TB since the start of the Eid ceasefire — USFOR-A Spokesman Col Sonny Leggett (@USFOR_A) June 5, 2020 × USFOR-A spokesman Col. Sonny Leggett said the airstrikes were conducted in southern Kandahar province and western Farah province against Taliban fighters who had attacked Afghan army checkpoints. “All sides must reduce violence to allow the peace process to take hold,” Leggett added. The Taliban had earlier announced a ceasefire with Afghan forces which ended on May 26 as Eid ended. The US had reached a deal with the Taliban in February ensuring it would pull its troops from the country in return for security guarantees, however, the Taliban and the Afghan government have been at loggerheads with each other. Although under the agreement the US and Taliban were supposed to refrain from attacking each other but the US had said last month that it would conduct "defensive strikes" against the Taliban if they attacked Afghan forces.

US conducts airstrikes against Taliban first time since Eid ceasefire

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/south-asia/afghanistan-taliban-claims-responsibility-of-us-military-plane-crash-in-ghazni-276926">American warplanes dropped more bombs</a> on Afghanistan in 2019 than at any other time in the last decade, a report by US Air Force revealed on Tuesday.

According to the figures mentioned in the report by US Air Force Central Command, the US dropped 7,423 separate munitions on targets in Afghanistan in 2019.

The data represented a dramatic surge in bombings in Afghanistan compared to the peak of President Barack Obama's "surge" in 2009, when 4,147 bombs were dropped.

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/south-asia/no-indication-us-plane-crash-caused-by-enemy-fire-pentagon-denies-talibans-claim-277066">Also read: No indication US plane crash caused by enemy fire: Pentagon denies Taliban's claim</a>

The latest development comes as Washington is amid the troop withdrawal talks with Afghan-Taliban. The two sides had been negotiating an agreement for a year and were close to an announcement in September 2019, but the talks were halted after US President Donald Trump abruptly declared the process "dead", citing Taliban violence.

Since President Donald Trump was elected in 2016 the US has ramped up bombing runs over Afghanistan as the White House removed earlier restrictions that provided greater oversight over air raids aimed at preventing civilian casualties.

The UN and rights groups have repeatedly voiced concerns that the increase in airstrikes across the country by the US and Afghan forces have resulted in a major upswing in civilian casualties.

During the first half of 2019 pro-government forces, including the US, killed 717 civilians, an increase of 31 per cent from a year earlier, the UN reported last year.

Meanwhile, a US plane crashed in Afghanistan's Ghazni province on Monday killing all people onboard.

The Taliban had claimed that it had brought down the plane. The area where the plane crashed is Taliban territory, however, Afghanistan US Forces spokesman Colonel Sonny Leggett dismissed reports of the plane being shot down by enemy fire.

(With inputs from agencies)

&nbsp;

American warplanes dropped more bombs on Afghanistan in 2019 than at any other time in the last decade, a report by US Air Force revealed on Tuesday. According to the figures mentioned in the report by US Air Force Central Command, the US dropped 7,423 separate munitions on targets in Afghanistan in 2019.

American warplanes dropped more bombs on Afghanistan in 2019 than at any other time in the last decade, a report by US Air Force revealed on Tuesday. According to the figures mentioned in the report by US Air Force Central Command, the US dropped 7,423 separate munitions on targets in Afghanistan in 2019. The data represented a dramatic surge in bombings in Afghanistan compared to the peak of President Barack Obama's "surge" in 2009, when 4,147 bombs were dropped. Also read: No indication US plane crash caused by enemy fire: Pentagon denies Taliban's claim The latest development comes as Washington is amid the troop withdrawal talks with Afghan-Taliban. The two sides had been negotiating an agreement for a year and were close to an announcement in September 2019, but the talks were halted after US President Donald Trump abruptly declared the process "dead", citing Taliban violence. Since President Donald Trump was elected in 2016 the US has ramped up bombing runs over Afghanistan as the White House removed earlier restrictions that provided greater oversight over air raids aimed at preventing civilian casualties. The UN and rights groups have repeatedly voiced concerns that the increase in airstrikes across the country by the US and Afghan forces have resulted in a major upswing in civilian casualties. During the first half of 2019 pro-government forces, including the US, killed 717 civilians, an increase of 31 per cent from a year earlier, the UN reported last year. Meanwhile, a US plane crashed in Afghanistan's Ghazni province on Monday killing all people onboard. The Taliban had claimed that it had brought down the plane. The area where the plane crashed is Taliban territory, however, Afghanistan US Forces spokesman Colonel Sonny Leggett dismissed reports of the plane being shot down by enemy fire. (With inputs from agencies)

US bombing of Afghanistan hits 10-year high

The Taliban claimed responsibility after&nbsp;a US soldier was killed in&nbsp;an attack on an American convoy&nbsp;in&nbsp;Afghanistan.

The name of the US serviceman was withheld by the military.&nbsp;According to newswire AFP, the Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack.

The latest incident comes even as US special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad prepares to meet Afghan leaders to discuss the Taliban peace talks.

Khalilzad was earlier in Pakistan to discuss the latest development on the Afghan talks with Pakistan officials.

In September, President Donald Trump had declared talks with the Taliban "dead" after an attack in Kabul in which one soldier was killed.

AFP reported that Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said its outfit "blew up an American vehicle in Char Dara district of Kunduz".

Last month while making a &nbsp;surprise stopover to Bagram airfield in Afghanistan to celebrate Thanksgiving holiday with troops, President Trump had said that he was still interested in a "deal" with the Taliban.

"The Taliban wants to make a deal and we're meeting with them and we're saying it has to be a ceasefire," Trump had said during his visit to Bagram airbase.

Trump added that Afghanistan "will not be decided on the battlefield" and "ultimately there will need to be a political solution" decided by people in the region.&nbsp;

US troops had entered Afghanistan after the 2001 September attack in New York and Washington to destroy the al-Qaida, about 13,000 troops still remain in Afghanistan even as the US president said he will cut down the number of troops in the region.

At least 20 American soldiers have died in Afghanistan this year.

The Taliban claimed responsibility after a US soldier was killed in an attack on an American convoy in Afghanistan. The name of the US serviceman was withheld by the military.

The Taliban claimed responsibility after a US soldier was killed in an attack on an American convoy in Afghanistan. The name of the US serviceman was withheld by the military. According to newswire AFP, the Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack. The latest incident comes even as US special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad prepares to meet Afghan leaders to discuss the Taliban peace talks. Khalilzad was earlier in Pakistan to discuss the latest development on the Afghan talks with Pakistan officials. In September, President Donald Trump had declared talks with the Taliban "dead" after an attack in Kabul in which one soldier was killed. AFP reported that Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said its outfit "blew up an American vehicle in Char Dara district of Kunduz". Last month while making a surprise stopover to Bagram airfield in Afghanistan to celebrate Thanksgiving holiday with troops, President Trump had said that he was still interested in a "deal" with the Taliban. "The Taliban wants to make a deal and we're meeting with them and we're saying it has to be a ceasefire," Trump had said during his visit to Bagram airbase. Trump added that Afghanistan "will not be decided on the battlefield" and "ultimately there will need to be a political solution" decided by people in the region. US troops had entered Afghanistan after the 2001 September attack in New York and Washington to destroy the al-Qaida, about 13,000 troops still remain in Afghanistan even as the US president said he will cut down the number of troops in the region. At least 20 American soldiers have died in Afghanistan this year.

US soldier killed in Afghanistan

The Washington Post reported on Tuesday that it had obtained a confidential trove of government documents on how US officials misled Americans on the war in Afghanistan.

It reveals that US officials failed to tell the truth about the war in Afghanistan throughout the 18-year campaign.

The report said officials made rosy pronouncements they knew were false and hid "unmistakable evidence the war had become unwinnable. The report details how the Pentagon officials privately told a watchdog for years about their deep concerns about the US war strategy in Afghanistan, including senior officials who were publicly more hopeful.

The disclosure comes even as US President Donald Trump and the Pentagon look to draw down the number of forces in Afghanistan.

The report quotes a three-star army general as saying that the US was devoid of "fundamental understanding" of Afghanistan and that it didn't know what it was doing.

The general served as the White House's Afghan war czar during the presidencies of Geroge W. Bush and Barack Obama. In the report, the US general said that the United States didn’t have the foggiest notion of what it was undertaking in Afghanistan, blaming the deaths of US military personnel on bureaucratic breakdowns among the legislature and the government.

In public, however, the US military commanders throughout the war talked about how the conflict in Afghanistan was turning a corner, the report said.

The documents accessed by the Washington Post show US generals and officials acknowledging that the strategies for fighting the Afghan war were flawed and that the US wasted hundreds of billions of dollars trying to make Afghanistan into a stable, democratic nation.

The US and its allies had invaded Afghanistan 18 years ago to oust the Taliban from power for sheltering al-Qaeda leaders who were accused of plotting the 9/11 attacks. The Afghan war is estimated to have killed more than 1,50,000 people, including civilians, insurgents, local and foreign troops.

The conflict has claimed the lives of more than 2,400 US military personnel and cost the US one trillion dollars.

The US and the Afghan-Taliban restarted peace negotiations on Saturday, three months after Trump abruptly stopped the year-long process aimed at finding a political settlement with the insurgent group and ending the war in Afghanistan.

The Afghan-born US special representative, Zalmay Khalilzad, led his team at a meeting on Saturday in Doha, where the Taliban negotiators are based. The draft agreement reached between the US and Taliban would have set the stage for a phased withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan.

In return, the Taliban had given certain guarantees and promised to engage in intra-Afghan peace negotiations to permanently end decades of hostilities in the country.

The Washington Post reported on Tuesday that it had obtained a confidential trove of government documents on how US officials misled Americans on the war in Afghanistan.

The Washington Post reported on Tuesday that it had obtained a confidential trove of government documents on how US officials misled Americans on the war in Afghanistan. It reveals that US officials failed to tell the truth about the war in Afghanistan throughout the 18-year campaign. The report said officials made rosy pronouncements they knew were false and hid "unmistakable evidence the war had become unwinnable. The report details how the Pentagon officials privately told a watchdog for years about their deep concerns about the US war strategy in Afghanistan, including senior officials who were publicly more hopeful. The disclosure comes even as US President Donald Trump and the Pentagon look to draw down the number of forces in Afghanistan. The report quotes a three-star army general as saying that the US was devoid of "fundamental understanding" of Afghanistan and that it didn't know what it was doing. The general served as the White House's Afghan war czar during the presidencies of Geroge W. Bush and Barack Obama. In the report, the US general said that the United States didn’t have the foggiest notion of what it was undertaking in Afghanistan, blaming the deaths of US military personnel on bureaucratic breakdowns among the legislature and the government. In public, however, the US military commanders throughout the war talked about how the conflict in Afghanistan was turning a corner, the report said. The documents accessed by the Washington Post show US generals and officials acknowledging that the strategies for fighting the Afghan war were flawed and that the US wasted hundreds of billions of dollars trying to make Afghanistan into a stable, democratic nation. The US and its allies had invaded Afghanistan 18 years ago to oust the Taliban from power for sheltering al-Qaeda leaders who were accused of plotting the 9/11 attacks. The Afghan war is estimated to have killed more than 1,50,000 people, including civilians, insurgents, local and foreign troops. The conflict has claimed the lives of more than 2,400 US military personnel and cost the US one trillion dollars. The US and the Afghan-Taliban restarted peace negotiations on Saturday, three months after Trump abruptly stopped the year-long process aimed at finding a political settlement with the insurgent group and ending the war in Afghanistan. The Afghan-born US special representative, Zalmay Khalilzad, led his team at a meeting on Saturday in Doha, where the Taliban negotiators are based. The draft agreement reached between the US and Taliban would have set the stage for a phased withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan. In return, the Taliban had given certain guarantees and promised to engage in intra-Afghan peace negotiations to permanently end decades of hostilities in the country.

US officials misled Americans on war in Afghanistan: Report

Afghans should not misconstrue America's sudden and contentious withdrawal from parts of Syria as a precursor to a similar move in Afghanistan, US Defense Secretary Mark Esper said Monday.

The Pentagon chief also hinted that some sort of residual US force might remain in Syria to protect oil fields, but stressed no decision had been taken.&nbsp;

The US last week announced the withdrawal of 1,000 American troops from northeast Syria, days after Turkey launched an offensive against the previously US-backed Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG), which Ankara considers a terrorist group.

The move provoked outrage from observers and even members of President Donald Trump's Republican Party, who saw the sudden withdrawal as a betrayal of the same Kurdish fighters the US had been training and arming for years to fight Islamic State jihadists in Syria.

Speaking at NATO's Resolute Support mission headquarters in Kabul, Esper said America maintains a "longstanding commitment" to Afghanistan, which it invaded in 2001 to oust the Taliban, and noted US policy direction for the country is completely different.

"All these things should reassure our Afghan allies and others that they should not misinterpret our actions in the recent week or so with regard to Syria and contrast that with Afghanistan," he said.

Underscoring America's will to stay in Afghanistan, Esper said, was that it still faces a "virulent terrorist threat that originated in the form of Al-Qaeda and now finds itself in the Taliban and ISIS-K and other groups".&nbsp;

ISIS-K is the abbreviation for the Afghan Islamic State affiliate.

The US and the Taliban were last month on the brink of signing a deal that would have seen some American forces begin to withdraw from Afghanistan in return for various insurgent security commitments.

But negotiations collapsed at the last minute when Trump declared talks "dead" following Taliban attacks including one that killed a US soldier.

Guarding Syria oil fields&nbsp;

On Syria, Esper said the withdrawal of US forces would take "weeks not days", and raised the possibility that some troops would stay for now in towns near oil fields as a way of preventing IS and other groups seizing them.

"We have troops in towns in northeast Syria that are located next to the oil fields. The troops in those towns are not in the present phase of withdrawal," Esper said.&nbsp;

"I've made no decision with regard to various options. Those are things that we would have to present to the president in due course".

General Scott Miller, who leads US and NATO forces in Afghanistan, said over the past year the US has reduced its military footprint across the war-torn country by about 2,000 troops.&nbsp;

"As we work in Afghanistan with our partners, we are always looking to optimise the force," Miller said, speaking at the same press conference as Esper.&nbsp;

"Unbeknownst to the public, as part of our optimisation over the last year we have reduced our authorised strength by 2,000 here."

That force reduction is unrelated to any prospective deal with the Taliban.

US Forces-Afghanistan spokesman Colonel Sonny Leggett said the US now has around 13,000 troops in the country.

Zalmay Khalilzad, the US special envoy leading negotiations, has spoken informally with Taliban officials in Pakistan, raising the possibility that Washington is seeking to resume talks, and Esper has said he supports a political agreement. 
&nbsp;

Afghans should not misconstrue America's sudden and contentious withdrawal from parts of Syria as a precursor to a similar move in Afghanistan, US Defense Secretary Mark Esper said Monday.

Afghans should not misconstrue America's sudden and contentious withdrawal from parts of Syria as a precursor to a similar move in Afghanistan, US Defense Secretary Mark Esper said Monday. The Pentagon chief also hinted that some sort of residual US force might remain in Syria to protect oil fields, but stressed no decision had been taken. The US last week announced the withdrawal of 1,000 American troops from northeast Syria, days after Turkey launched an offensive against the previously US-backed Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG), which Ankara considers a terrorist group. The move provoked outrage from observers and even members of President Donald Trump's Republican Party, who saw the sudden withdrawal as a betrayal of the same Kurdish fighters the US had been training and arming for years to fight Islamic State jihadists in Syria. Speaking at NATO's Resolute Support mission headquarters in Kabul, Esper said America maintains a "longstanding commitment" to Afghanistan, which it invaded in 2001 to oust the Taliban, and noted US policy direction for the country is completely different. "All these things should reassure our Afghan allies and others that they should not misinterpret our actions in the recent week or so with regard to Syria and contrast that with Afghanistan," he said. Underscoring America's will to stay in Afghanistan, Esper said, was that it still faces a "virulent terrorist threat that originated in the form of Al-Qaeda and now finds itself in the Taliban and ISIS-K and other groups". ISIS-K is the abbreviation for the Afghan Islamic State affiliate. The US and the Taliban were last month on the brink of signing a deal that would have seen some American forces begin to withdraw from Afghanistan in return for various insurgent security commitments. But negotiations collapsed at the last minute when Trump declared talks "dead" following Taliban attacks including one that killed a US soldier. Guarding Syria oil fields On Syria, Esper said the withdrawal of US forces would take "weeks not days", and raised the possibility that some troops would stay for now in towns near oil fields as a way of preventing IS and other groups seizing them. "We have troops in towns in northeast Syria that are located next to the oil fields. The troops in those towns are not in the present phase of withdrawal," Esper said. "I've made no decision with regard to various options. Those are things that we would have to present to the president in due course". General Scott Miller, who leads US and NATO forces in Afghanistan, said over the past year the US has reduced its military footprint across the war-torn country by about 2,000 troops. "As we work in Afghanistan with our partners, we are always looking to optimise the force," Miller said, speaking at the same press conference as Esper. "Unbeknownst to the public, as part of our optimisation over the last year we have reduced our authorised strength by 2,000 here." That force reduction is unrelated to any prospective deal with the Taliban. US Forces-Afghanistan spokesman Colonel Sonny Leggett said the US now has around 13,000 troops in the country. Zalmay Khalilzad, the US special envoy leading negotiations, has spoken informally with Taliban officials in Pakistan, raising the possibility that Washington is seeking to resume talks, and Esper has said he supports a political agreement.

No Syria-type pullout planned for Afghanistan: Pentagon chief

The US military is set to pull troops from five Afghan bases under a proposed deal with the Taliban, the US envoy leading talks with the insurgents said Monday, in some of the first confirmed details of a much-anticipated accord.

Zalmay Khalilzad, who has spent about a year negotiating with the Taliban, said the draw-down would occur within about four months of a final deal being approved -- provided the Taliban stick to their commitments.

"We have agreed that if the conditions proceed according to the agreement, we will leave within 135 days five bases in which we are present now," Khalilzad told Tolo News, according to an excerpt of an interview the Afghan TV station published on Twitter.

The Afghan-born envoy was speaking in Dari, and Tolo said the full interview would be broadcast later Monday.

Khalilzad was in Kabul following the latest round of talks with the Taliban in Doha, after which he said the two sides were at the "threshold" of a deal. He met Monday with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and showed him the draft of a proposed agreement.

The prospective deal centres on US troop reductions in return for several security guarantees from the Taliban, as well as broader peace talks between the insurgents and the Afghan government and an eventual ceasefire.

Still, even if many of 13,000 or so US troops in Afghanistan leave soon after the deal, President Donald Trump last week said America would maintain a permanent presence -- with 8,600 troops initially -- even after a deal is reached with the Taliban.

Khalilzad's discussions with Ghani are key because the Afghan government has until now been largely sidelined from talks, though any eventual deal would require the Taliban to talk to the Afghan leader.

"The efforts of the US and other partners will yield results when the Taliban enters direct negotiations with the Afghan government," Ghani's spokesman Sediq Sediqqi told reporters.

"We hope these efforts will lead to an end to the conflict."

When asked to describe the deal, Sediqqi demurred, saying "the most important thing is that the Taliban's violence stops".

Afghanistan's Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah said in a statement he too had been briefed and assured of "a thorough and sustainable peace in Afghanistan".

'Threshold' of a deal

Ghani has appointed a 15-member delegation to meet with the Taliban at "intra-Afghan" talks slated to take place in Norway in the coming weeks.

On Sunday, Khalilzad said the US and the Taliban were closing in on a deal that would reduce violence and pave the way for "sustainable" peace.

But even as negotiations have entered their apparent final stage, violence has continued apace across Afghanistan.

On Saturday, the Taliban attempted to seize Kunduz in the north, and on Sunday, they launched an operation in the city of Pul-e Khumri, the capital of neighbouring Baghlan province.

Afghan officials on Monday said Pul-e Khumri had been cleared of Taliban fighters and fighting restricted to the outskirts.

Afghan forces, backed by local and US airpower, were able to stop Kunduz falling and repel the Taliban, who briefly seized the city in 2015.

Afghan officials claimed Monday the city was back to normal but in the afternoon a suicide bomber detonated himself near a security-forces base in the outskirts of Kunduz, killing six troops and wounding 15 other people.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack.

Meanwhile, the US-led NATO mission in Afghanistan said mechanical problems had caused a coalition drone to crash in Ghor province.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has previously said he hoped a peace deal would be finalised before September 1, ahead of Afghan polls set for September 28.

Suhail Shaheen, the Taliban's spokesman in Doha, said Saturday a deal was "near to finalised" but did not specify what obstacles remain.

All of the last-minute deal-making comes less than a month before the presidential elections are due.

Despite Ghani's repeated insistence, the polls will go ahead, many in Afghanistan are sceptical they will happen as planned.

The US military is set to pull troops from five Afghan bases under a proposed deal with the Taliban, the US envoy leading talks with the insurgents said Monday, in some of the first confirmed details of a much-anticipated accord.

The US military is set to pull troops from five Afghan bases under a proposed deal with the Taliban, the US envoy leading talks with the insurgents said Monday, in some of the first confirmed details of a much-anticipated accord. Zalmay Khalilzad, who has spent about a year negotiating with the Taliban, said the draw-down would occur within about four months of a final deal being approved -- provided the Taliban stick to their commitments. "We have agreed that if the conditions proceed according to the agreement, we will leave within 135 days five bases in which we are present now," Khalilzad told Tolo News, according to an excerpt of an interview the Afghan TV station published on Twitter. The Afghan-born envoy was speaking in Dari, and Tolo said the full interview would be broadcast later Monday. Khalilzad was in Kabul following the latest round of talks with the Taliban in Doha, after which he said the two sides were at the "threshold" of a deal. He met Monday with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and showed him the draft of a proposed agreement. The prospective deal centres on US troop reductions in return for several security guarantees from the Taliban, as well as broader peace talks between the insurgents and the Afghan government and an eventual ceasefire. Still, even if many of 13,000 or so US troops in Afghanistan leave soon after the deal, President Donald Trump last week said America would maintain a permanent presence -- with 8,600 troops initially -- even after a deal is reached with the Taliban. Khalilzad's discussions with Ghani are key because the Afghan government has until now been largely sidelined from talks, though any eventual deal would require the Taliban to talk to the Afghan leader. "The efforts of the US and other partners will yield results when the Taliban enters direct negotiations with the Afghan government," Ghani's spokesman Sediq Sediqqi told reporters. "We hope these efforts will lead to an end to the conflict." When asked to describe the deal, Sediqqi demurred, saying "the most important thing is that the Taliban's violence stops". Afghanistan's Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah said in a statement he too had been briefed and assured of "a thorough and sustainable peace in Afghanistan". 'Threshold' of a deal Ghani has appointed a 15-member delegation to meet with the Taliban at "intra-Afghan" talks slated to take place in Norway in the coming weeks. On Sunday, Khalilzad said the US and the Taliban were closing in on a deal that would reduce violence and pave the way for "sustainable" peace. But even as negotiations have entered their apparent final stage, violence has continued apace across Afghanistan. On Saturday, the Taliban attempted to seize Kunduz in the north, and on Sunday, they launched an operation in the city of Pul-e Khumri, the capital of neighbouring Baghlan province. Afghan officials on Monday said Pul-e Khumri had been cleared of Taliban fighters and fighting restricted to the outskirts. Afghan forces, backed by local and US airpower, were able to stop Kunduz falling and repel the Taliban, who briefly seized the city in 2015. Afghan officials claimed Monday the city was back to normal but in the afternoon a suicide bomber detonated himself near a security-forces base in the outskirts of Kunduz, killing six troops and wounding 15 other people. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack. Meanwhile, the US-led NATO mission in Afghanistan said mechanical problems had caused a coalition drone to crash in Ghor province. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has previously said he hoped a peace deal would be finalised before September 1, ahead of Afghan polls set for September 28. Suhail Shaheen, the Taliban's spokesman in Doha, said Saturday a deal was "near to finalised" but did not specify what obstacles remain. All of the last-minute deal-making comes less than a month before the presidential elections are due. Despite Ghani's repeated insistence, the polls will go ahead, many in Afghanistan are sceptical they will happen as planned.

US-Taliban deal would see US pull troops from five bases: US envoy

The US and the <a href="https://www.wionews.com/south-asia/afghanistans-taliban-movement-240573">Taliban</a> have made "excellent progress" in the <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/fresh-round-of-us-taliban-talks-in-doha-hope-for-peace-deal-rise-240401">latest round of talks in Doha </a>to craft a peace deal, Washington's&nbsp;Afghanistan&nbsp;envoy said on Monday.

The foes have been meeting in Qatar since Saturday for an eighth round of talks to thrash out a historic accord that would slash the US military presence in&nbsp;Afghanistan.

In return, the United States is demanding that the Taliban prevent the country from being used as a safe haven for jihadist groups including Al-Qaeda.

"Building on excellent progress in Kabul last week, I've spent the last few days in Doha, focused on the remaining issues in completing a potential deal with the Taliban," tweeted US envoy Zalmay Khalilzad.

The conclusion of a deal "would allow for a conditions-based troop withdrawal," he wrote adding that "we have made excellent progress."

The Taliban did not immediately respond to requests to comment on the talks' progress.

Watch: 8th round of US-Taliban peace talks

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Khalilzad said that he was flying to New Delhi "for pre-scheduled meetings to further build international consensus in support of the Afghan Peace Process".

A deal between the two sides could pave the way for direct talks between the government of President Ashraf Ghani, although the insurgents view his administration as illegitimate.

"My team and Taliban representatives will continue to discuss technical details as well as steps and mechanisms required for a succesful implementation of the four-part agreement we've been working toward since my appointment," Khalilzad tweeted.&nbsp;

"Agreement on these details is essential," the US envoy added.

The four pillars of any deal would be a US withdrawal from&nbsp;Afghanistan, a commitment by the militants not to shelter jihadists, intra-Afghan dialogue, and a ceasefire.

'We're talking'

The US invaded&nbsp;Afghanistan&nbsp;in 2001 and toppled the Taliban, accusing it of harbouring Al-Qaeda jihadists who claimed the September 11 attacks against the US that killed almost 3,000 people.

But despite a rapid conclusion to the conventional phase of the war, the Taliban has waged a formidable insurgency, bogging down US troops for years.

Washington wants to strike a peace deal with the Taliban by the end of this month -- ahead of&nbsp;Afghanistan's presidential election that is slated for September 28.

US President Donald Trump told reporters at the White House last week that "we've made a lot of progress. We're talking".

However, even if the US and the Taliban come to an agreement, massive questions remain over what would follow an accord.

The US has said any withdrawal of its troops would be "conditions-based", whereas the Taliban is insisting on a full pullout of foreign forces before making commitments of its own.&nbsp;

Washington sees an agreement with the Taliban as a precursor to the insurgents then striking a peace deal with&nbsp;Afghanistan's government.

The Afghan government has formed a negotiating team for talks with the insurgents that diplomats hope could be held later this month.

The United Nations has said that civilian casualty rates in&nbsp;Afghanistan&nbsp;jumped back to record levels last month, after a dip earlier in the year.

More than 1,500 civilians were killed or wounded in the conflict in July, the highest monthly toll so far in 2019 and the deadliest single month since May 2017.

The US and the Taliban have made "excellent progress" in the latest round of talks in Doha to craft a peace deal, Washington's Afghanistan envoy said on Monday. The foes have been meeting in Qatar since Saturday for an eighth round of talks to thrash out a historic accord that would slash the US military presence in Afghanistan.

The US and the Taliban have made "excellent progress" in the latest round of talks in Doha to craft a peace deal, Washington's Afghanistan envoy said on Monday. The foes have been meeting in Qatar since Saturday for an eighth round of talks to thrash out a historic accord that would slash the US military presence in Afghanistan. In return, the United States is demanding that the Taliban prevent the country from being used as a safe haven for jihadist groups including Al-Qaeda. "Building on excellent progress in Kabul last week, I've spent the last few days in Doha, focused on the remaining issues in completing a potential deal with the Taliban," tweeted US envoy Zalmay Khalilzad. The conclusion of a deal "would allow for a conditions-based troop withdrawal," he wrote adding that "we have made excellent progress." The Taliban did not immediately respond to requests to comment on the talks' progress. Watch: 8th round of US-Taliban peace talks × Khalilzad said that he was flying to New Delhi "for pre-scheduled meetings to further build international consensus in support of the Afghan Peace Process". A deal between the two sides could pave the way for direct talks between the government of President Ashraf Ghani, although the insurgents view his administration as illegitimate. "My team and Taliban representatives will continue to discuss technical details as well as steps and mechanisms required for a succesful implementation of the four-part agreement we've been working toward since my appointment," Khalilzad tweeted. "Agreement on these details is essential," the US envoy added. The four pillars of any deal would be a US withdrawal from Afghanistan, a commitment by the militants not to shelter jihadists, intra-Afghan dialogue, and a ceasefire. 'We're talking' The US invaded Afghanistan in 2001 and toppled the Taliban, accusing it of harbouring Al-Qaeda jihadists who claimed the September 11 attacks against the US that killed almost 3,000 people. But despite a rapid conclusion to the conventional phase of the war, the Taliban has waged a formidable insurgency, bogging down US troops for years. Washington wants to strike a peace deal with the Taliban by the end of this month -- ahead of Afghanistan's presidential election that is slated for September 28. US President Donald Trump told reporters at the White House last week that "we've made a lot of progress. We're talking". However, even if the US and the Taliban come to an agreement, massive questions remain over what would follow an accord. The US has said any withdrawal of its troops would be "conditions-based", whereas the Taliban is insisting on a full pullout of foreign forces before making commitments of its own. Washington sees an agreement with the Taliban as a precursor to the insurgents then striking a peace deal with Afghanistan's government. The Afghan government has formed a negotiating team for talks with the insurgents that diplomats hope could be held later this month. The United Nations has said that civilian casualty rates in Afghanistan jumped back to record levels last month, after a dip earlier in the year. More than 1,500 civilians were killed or wounded in the conflict in July, the highest monthly toll so far in 2019 and the deadliest single month since May 2017.

US Afghan envoy praises 'excellent progress' in Taliban talks

Two US service members were killed in Afghanistan on Monday, the NATO-led Resolute Support mission said in a statement, as the United States seeks to reach a negotiated end to the nearly 18-year-old war.

It gave no further details and withheld the names of the service members until next of kin were informed.

The incident brings the number of US&nbsp;troops killed in Afghanistan this month to three and at least 11 in 2019.

A US&nbsp;official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said that according to initial information it was a "green-on-blue" attack.&nbsp;

Insider attacks, often known as "green on blue" attacks, in which Afghan service members or attackers wearing Afghan uniforms fire on US&nbsp;or coalition troops, have been a regular feature of the conflict in Afghanistan, although their frequency has diminished in recent years.

The official said the incident took place in Kandahar. The official added that this was initial information and could change.

About 14,000 US troops are stationed in Afghanistan as part of the US-led NATO mission to train, assist and advise Afghan forces and to carry out counter-terrorism operations.

Despite talks between the United States and the Taliban, violence in the country continues.

The death toll from a suicide attack on the Kabul office of Amrullah Saleh, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani`s running mate in September elections, reached 20 with at least 50 wounded, officials said on Monday as cleanup operations began.

Sunday`s attack added to an anxious mood in Kabul, where there is concern over chaotic election preparations and uncertainty about the future of US military support for the Afghan government.

US diplomats have been talking with the Taliban for months to agree a timetable for the withdrawal of foreign forces in exchange for security guarantees. The talks are expected to resume early next month amid increasing expectations that the two sides are close to an agreement.

Two US service members were killed in Afghanistan on Monday, the NATO-led Resolute Support mission said in a statement, as the United States seeks to reach a negotiated end to the nearly 18-year-old war.

Two US service members were killed in Afghanistan on Monday, the NATO-led Resolute Support mission said in a statement, as the United States seeks to reach a negotiated end to the nearly 18-year-old war. It gave no further details and withheld the names of the service members until next of kin were informed. The incident brings the number of US troops killed in Afghanistan this month to three and at least 11 in 2019. A US official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said that according to initial information it was a "green-on-blue" attack. Insider attacks, often known as "green on blue" attacks, in which Afghan service members or attackers wearing Afghan uniforms fire on US or coalition troops, have been a regular feature of the conflict in Afghanistan, although their frequency has diminished in recent years. The official said the incident took place in Kandahar. The official added that this was initial information and could change. About 14,000 US troops are stationed in Afghanistan as part of the US-led NATO mission to train, assist and advise Afghan forces and to carry out counter-terrorism operations. Despite talks between the United States and the Taliban, violence in the country continues. The death toll from a suicide attack on the Kabul office of Amrullah Saleh, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani`s running mate in September elections, reached 20 with at least 50 wounded, officials said on Monday as cleanup operations began. Sunday`s attack added to an anxious mood in Kabul, where there is concern over chaotic election preparations and uncertainty about the future of US military support for the Afghan government. US diplomats have been talking with the Taliban for months to agree a timetable for the withdrawal of foreign forces in exchange for security guarantees. The talks are expected to resume early next month amid increasing expectations that the two sides are close to an agreement.

Two US service members killed in Afghanistan

The United States President Donald Trump on Monday said he will leave a strong intelligence presence in Afghanistan even after US troops depart from the country. He also termed the country "Harvard of terrorists" while he was speaking in a video interview.

"We will be leaving very strong intelligence, far more than you would normally think," Trump said in an interview with Fox News.

"It just seems to be a lab for terrorists... I call it the Harvard of terrorists," he said.

"I've wanted to pull them out," Trump said of US troops who have been fighting in the country since 2001.

But he said he hesitates due what he described as advice from the military that it is preferable to fight terrorists there than at home -- echoing an argument advanced by George W&nbsp;Bush's administration.

Trump's comments come with rival Afghans set to start meeting in Qatar on Sunday in a fresh attempt to make political headway as the United States seeks a peace deal with the Taliban within three months.

After Syria, Donald Trump in December last year announced to withdraw troops from Afghanistan.&nbsp;

Following Trump's announcement, Pentagon had also announced the<a href="https://www.wionews.com/south-asia/us-to-withdraw-significant-number-of-troops-from-afghanistan-official-185569"> withdrawal of around 7,000 troops from Afghanistan</a> which amounts to the removal of half of the total US forces deployed in the country at present. So far no timeline has been fixed&nbsp;

About 20,000 foreign troops, most of them American, are in Afghanistan as part of a US-led NATO mission to train, assist and advise Afghan forces. Some US forces carry out counter-terrorism operations.

Watch: Why is Afghanistan a fertile ground for ISIS?

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At least 3,804 civilians were killed in the war last year, according to the United Nations. Thousands of Afghan soldiers, police and Taliban were also killed.

(With inputs from news agencies)

The United States President Donald Trump on Monday said he will leave a strong intelligence presence in Afghanistan even after US troops depart from the country.

The United States President Donald Trump on Monday said he will leave a strong intelligence presence in Afghanistan even after US troops depart from the country. He also termed the country "Harvard of terrorists" while he was speaking in a video interview. "We will be leaving very strong intelligence, far more than you would normally think," Trump said in an interview with Fox News. "It just seems to be a lab for terrorists... I call it the Harvard of terrorists," he said. "I've wanted to pull them out," Trump said of US troops who have been fighting in the country since 2001. But he said he hesitates due what he described as advice from the military that it is preferable to fight terrorists there than at home -- echoing an argument advanced by George W Bush's administration. Trump's comments come with rival Afghans set to start meeting in Qatar on Sunday in a fresh attempt to make political headway as the United States seeks a peace deal with the Taliban within three months. After Syria, Donald Trump in December last year announced to withdraw troops from Afghanistan. Following Trump's announcement, Pentagon had also announced the withdrawal of around 7,000 troops from Afghanistan which amounts to the removal of half of the total US forces deployed in the country at present. So far no timeline has been fixed About 20,000 foreign troops, most of them American, are in Afghanistan as part of a US-led NATO mission to train, assist and advise Afghan forces. Some US forces carry out counter-terrorism operations. Watch: Why is Afghanistan a fertile ground for ISIS? × At least 3,804 civilians were killed in the war last year, according to the United Nations. Thousands of Afghan soldiers, police and Taliban were also killed. (With inputs from news agencies)

US will keep strong intel presence in Afghanistan even after troops withdrawal: Trump

The United States on Friday found backing from rivals Russia and China on the key formula of a peace deal it is negotiating in Afghanistan -- withdrawing troops in return for Taliban pledges not to welcome foreign extremists.

Zalmay Khalilzad, the US envoy who is set shortly to hold his <a href="https://www.wionews.com/opinions/us-taliban-talks-peace-remains-a-distant-dream-for-afghanistan-213647">latest round of talks with the Taliban</a>, called the consensus a "milestone" in efforts to end the war after he met Russian and Chinese representatives in Moscow.

A joint statement by the three countries called for an "inclusive Afghan-led" peace process and outlined points expected to feature in an eventual agreement.

"The three sides call for an orderly and responsible withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghanistan as part of the overall peace process," said the statement issued by the US State Department.

They also said that the Taliban have made a "commitment" to fight the extremist Islamic State group and sever ties to Al-Qaeda.

The Taliban have promised to "ensure the areas they control will not be used to threaten any other country," the statement said, calling on them to prevent any "terrorist recruiting, training and fund-raising."

Khalilzad said that the statement, along with his talks earlier in the week in London with European envoys, "means we have an emerging international consensus on US approach to end the war AND assurances terrorism never again emanates from Afghanistan."

"More to do but important milestone," he tweeted.

President Donald Trump is eager to end America's longest-ever war, which was launched in response to the September 11, 2001 attacks, when the then Taliban regime gave shelter to Al-Qaeda.

Russia and China both have strong interests in Afghanistan. Some 14,000 Soviet soldiers were killed in Afghanistan from 1979 to 1989 in a conflict with US-backed Islamic guerrillas.

China has been stepping up its involvement in Afghanistan both militarily and economically as it voices worries that militants could sneak into its restive Muslim-majority Xinjiang region.

Khalilzad will also hold separate talks during his latest trip with Pakistan and India, which have strongly different views on Afghanistan.

One major sticking point is the Taliban's refusal to negotiate with the government of Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, which has wide-ranging international support.

The United States, Russia and China called on the Taliban to speak as soon as possible with a "broad, representative Afghan delegation that includes the government."

One country that has criticized the US approach is Iran, whose foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, recently said that the United States had alienated Afghans by turning the Taliban into king-makers.

The United States on Friday found backing from rivals Russia and China on the key formula of a peace deal it is negotiating in Afghanistan -- withdrawing troops in return for Taliban pledges not to welcome foreign extremists.

The United States on Friday found backing from rivals Russia and China on the key formula of a peace deal it is negotiating in Afghanistan -- withdrawing troops in return for Taliban pledges not to welcome foreign extremists. Zalmay Khalilzad, the US envoy who is set shortly to hold his latest round of talks with the Taliban, called the consensus a "milestone" in efforts to end the war after he met Russian and Chinese representatives in Moscow. A joint statement by the three countries called for an "inclusive Afghan-led" peace process and outlined points expected to feature in an eventual agreement. "The three sides call for an orderly and responsible withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghanistan as part of the overall peace process," said the statement issued by the US State Department. They also said that the Taliban have made a "commitment" to fight the extremist Islamic State group and sever ties to Al-Qaeda. The Taliban have promised to "ensure the areas they control will not be used to threaten any other country," the statement said, calling on them to prevent any "terrorist recruiting, training and fund-raising." Khalilzad said that the statement, along with his talks earlier in the week in London with European envoys, "means we have an emerging international consensus on US approach to end the war AND assurances terrorism never again emanates from Afghanistan." "More to do but important milestone," he tweeted. President Donald Trump is eager to end America's longest-ever war, which was launched in response to the September 11, 2001 attacks, when the then Taliban regime gave shelter to Al-Qaeda. Russia and China both have strong interests in Afghanistan. Some 14,000 Soviet soldiers were killed in Afghanistan from 1979 to 1989 in a conflict with US-backed Islamic guerrillas. China has been stepping up its involvement in Afghanistan both militarily and economically as it voices worries that militants could sneak into its restive Muslim-majority Xinjiang region. Khalilzad will also hold separate talks during his latest trip with Pakistan and India, which have strongly different views on Afghanistan. One major sticking point is the Taliban's refusal to negotiate with the government of Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, which has wide-ranging international support. The United States, Russia and China called on the Taliban to speak as soon as possible with a "broad, representative Afghan delegation that includes the government." One country that has criticized the US approach is Iran, whose foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, recently said that the United States had alienated Afghans by turning the Taliban into king-makers.

US agrees with Russia, China on pulling troops from Afghanistan

Three US troops and a military contractor were killed in a roadside explosion Monday in the deadliest attack on American forces this year, casting a shadow over ongoing peace talks with the Taliban, which claimed responsibility for the attack.

The blast near Bagram Air Base is the latest to hit American forces amid an ongoing, US-led drive to forge a peace deal in Afghanistan, more than 17 years after the Taliban were ousted.

According to the NATO-led Resolute Support mission in the country, the troops' convoy hit a roadside bomb that also wounded three US troops.

Earlier, the Taliban claimed to have conducted the attack when a suicide bomber detonated his vehicle filled with explosives, saying "multiple invaders" had been killed. They added that one armoured personnel carrier had been "completely destroyed".

Bagram, America's largest air base in Afghanistan, is located about 50 kilometres (30 miles) north of Kabul.

The explosion took place around 5:40 pm (1310 GMT), according to Salim Noori, spokesman for police in the province of Parwan, which is home to Bagram.&nbsp;

The car bomb targeted a convoy of coalition soldiers, he told AFP.

Bagram district governor Abdul Shakoor Quddusi said a car bomber attacked an armoured vehicle carrying foreign forces close to a gate to the base.

Officials did not immediately release the names of those killed, in line with standard policy pending notification of next of kin, or the nationality of the contractor.

"The wounded service members were evacuated and are receiving medical care," Resolute Support said in a statement.

Democratic presidential hopeful Beto O'Rourke tweeted his condolences, saying: "Our thoughts are with the families of the three service members killed today in Afghanistan."

The blast brings to seven the number of US troops killed in Afghanistan so far this year, compared to 12 killed in all of 2018.&nbsp;

Still, American casualties have fallen dramatically since the end of 2014, when Afghan forces took over from US-led NATO combat troops to secure the country.

The US now has some 14,000 troops in Afghanistan -- down from a peak of around 100,000 -- most of them deployed to train and advise Afghan counterparts.

Nearly 2,300 American soldiers have died and more than 20,400 have been wounded in the country since a US-led coalition ousted the Taliban in 2001.

While parts of Afghanistan including Kabul have experienced something of a lull in attacks in recent weeks, US and Afghan forces have stepped up attacks on the Taliban across the country.

Spring offensive expected

Afghans, meanwhile, are on high alert for a new round of violence when the militants kick off their expected spring offensive.

They typically declare a new fighting season as winter snows melt, and have in the past sought to gain control of district centres and to target government facilities.

Taliban leaders are set to meet with Afghan officials in Qatar next week for a fresh round of talks as the US tries to broker a peace deal.

Last week, US envoy Zalmay Khalilzad called for a "comprehensive and inclusive" intra-Afghan dialogue between the government, women, youth and civil society.

The Taliban has until now refused to meet with the Kabul government, accusing it of being a puppet regime.

The diplomatic spat between Washington and Kabul came to a head last month when Afghanistan's national security advisor Hamdullah Mohib accused Khalilzad of a lack of "transparency", even suggesting the Afghan-born envoy wanted to be "viceroy" of his native country.

Washington reacted furiously, with US officials reportedly refusing to attend meetings in which Mohib was present. The outspoken advisor visited eastern provinces when Khalilzad was in Kabul.

Three US troops and a military contractor were killed in a roadside explosion Monday in the deadliest attack on American forces this year, casting a shadow over ongoing peace talks with the Taliban, which claimed responsibility for the attack.

Three US troops and a military contractor were killed in a roadside explosion Monday in the deadliest attack on American forces this year, casting a shadow over ongoing peace talks with the Taliban, which claimed responsibility for the attack. The blast near Bagram Air Base is the latest to hit American forces amid an ongoing, US-led drive to forge a peace deal in Afghanistan, more than 17 years after the Taliban were ousted. According to the NATO-led Resolute Support mission in the country, the troops' convoy hit a roadside bomb that also wounded three US troops. Earlier, the Taliban claimed to have conducted the attack when a suicide bomber detonated his vehicle filled with explosives, saying "multiple invaders" had been killed. They added that one armoured personnel carrier had been "completely destroyed". Bagram, America's largest air base in Afghanistan, is located about 50 kilometres (30 miles) north of Kabul. The explosion took place around 5:40 pm (1310 GMT), according to Salim Noori, spokesman for police in the province of Parwan, which is home to Bagram. The car bomb targeted a convoy of coalition soldiers, he told AFP. Bagram district governor Abdul Shakoor Quddusi said a car bomber attacked an armoured vehicle carrying foreign forces close to a gate to the base. Officials did not immediately release the names of those killed, in line with standard policy pending notification of next of kin, or the nationality of the contractor. "The wounded service members were evacuated and are receiving medical care," Resolute Support said in a statement. Democratic presidential hopeful Beto O'Rourke tweeted his condolences, saying: "Our thoughts are with the families of the three service members killed today in Afghanistan." The blast brings to seven the number of US troops killed in Afghanistan so far this year, compared to 12 killed in all of 2018. Still, American casualties have fallen dramatically since the end of 2014, when Afghan forces took over from US-led NATO combat troops to secure the country. The US now has some 14,000 troops in Afghanistan -- down from a peak of around 100,000 -- most of them deployed to train and advise Afghan counterparts. Nearly 2,300 American soldiers have died and more than 20,400 have been wounded in the country since a US-led coalition ousted the Taliban in 2001. While parts of Afghanistan including Kabul have experienced something of a lull in attacks in recent weeks, US and Afghan forces have stepped up attacks on the Taliban across the country. Spring offensive expected Afghans, meanwhile, are on high alert for a new round of violence when the militants kick off their expected spring offensive. They typically declare a new fighting season as winter snows melt, and have in the past sought to gain control of district centres and to target government facilities. Taliban leaders are set to meet with Afghan officials in Qatar next week for a fresh round of talks as the US tries to broker a peace deal. Last week, US envoy Zalmay Khalilzad called for a "comprehensive and inclusive" intra-Afghan dialogue between the government, women, youth and civil society. The Taliban has until now refused to meet with the Kabul government, accusing it of being a puppet regime. The diplomatic spat between Washington and Kabul came to a head last month when Afghanistan's national security advisor Hamdullah Mohib accused Khalilzad of a lack of "transparency", even suggesting the Afghan-born envoy wanted to be "viceroy" of his native country. Washington reacted furiously, with US officials reportedly refusing to attend meetings in which Mohib was present. The outspoken advisor visited eastern provinces when Khalilzad was in Kabul.

Four killed in attack on US convoy in Afghanistan

Two US service members were killed in Afghanistan Friday, NATO said, in the latest casualties to hit the international coalition amid ongoing peace talks between Washington and the Taliban.

NATO's Resolute Support mission would not immediately release any details about the soldiers but said they had been killed during an unspecified "operation" in the country.

"In accordance with U.S. Department of Defense policy, the name of the service members killed in action are being withheld until 24 hours after notification of next of kin is complete," said NATO.

The deaths come a day after at least six people were killed by blasts in an Islamic State-claimed attack during Persian New Year celebrations in a Shiite area of Kabul.

The number of American casualties has fallen dramatically since the end of 2014 when Afghan forces took over from US-led NATO combat troops to secure the country.

Fighting continues to flare across Afghanistan more than a week after the latest round of talks between the US and the Taliban ended in Doha, as Washington continues to seek an end to the nearly 18-year war.

The Afghan government has complained it is being left out of the negotiations, as many Afghans fear a premature US withdrawal could see the Taliban return to some semblance of power.

The country remains on edge as winter comes to end, with warmer weather sparking the potential onset of a new fighting season as analysts warn the Taliban may increase attacks to gain leverage at the negotiating table.

US envoy Zalmay Khalilzad is spearheading efforts to strike a peace deal with the Taliban before Afghanistan's presidential election, which was pushed back to late September earlier this week. &nbsp;

Two US service members were killed in Afghanistan Friday, NATO said, in the latest casualties to hit the international coalition amid ongoing peace talks between Washington and the Taliban.

Two US service members were killed in Afghanistan Friday, NATO said, in the latest casualties to hit the international coalition amid ongoing peace talks between Washington and the Taliban. NATO's Resolute Support mission would not immediately release any details about the soldiers but said they had been killed during an unspecified "operation" in the country. "In accordance with U.S. Department of Defense policy, the name of the service members killed in action are being withheld until 24 hours after notification of next of kin is complete," said NATO. The deaths come a day after at least six people were killed by blasts in an Islamic State-claimed attack during Persian New Year celebrations in a Shiite area of Kabul. The number of American casualties has fallen dramatically since the end of 2014 when Afghan forces took over from US-led NATO combat troops to secure the country. Fighting continues to flare across Afghanistan more than a week after the latest round of talks between the US and the Taliban ended in Doha, as Washington continues to seek an end to the nearly 18-year war. The Afghan government has complained it is being left out of the negotiations, as many Afghans fear a premature US withdrawal could see the Taliban return to some semblance of power. The country remains on edge as winter comes to end, with warmer weather sparking the potential onset of a new fighting season as analysts warn the Taliban may increase attacks to gain leverage at the negotiating table. US envoy Zalmay Khalilzad is spearheading efforts to strike a peace deal with the Taliban before Afghanistan's presidential election, which was pushed back to late September earlier this week.

Two US soldiers killed in Afghanistan: NATO

The Pentagon has not received any order from President Donald Trump to withdraw troops from war-torn Afghanistan, a top US commander said Thursday.

"We've not--congressman, we've not been directed to withdraw (troops from Afghanistan), and there are no orders to withdraw anything," Commander of the US Central Command, General Joseph Votel told members of the House Armed Services Committee during a Congressional hearing.

Trump had in December last year announced that the US would pull troops from Afghanistan.

General Votel said his advice is that any decision to reduce forces in Afghanistan should be done in full consultation with its coalition partners, and of course the government of Afghanistan.

"It should pivot off political progress and the reconciliation process," he said, responding to questions from lawmakers on news reports about a timeline of withdrawal of troops from this war-ravaged country.

The US General said any drawdown or withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan should be based on conditions on the ground and the progress in the political process as well.&nbsp;

A high-level US team led by Special Representatives Zalmay Khalilzad is currently holding talks with the Taliban representatives in Qatar's capital, Doha.

"Khalilzad's efforts are really focused on developing a framework that can lead to inter-Afghan discussions," Gen Votel said, adding that this involves overcoming some obstacles that, right now, are preventing the Taliban from talking to the government of Afghanistan.&nbsp;

"But Khalilzad is working through those issues. Once those inter-Afghan discussions are commenced, then I think we will have the opportunity to address the issues that you are talking about directly," he said when Congresswoman Debra Haaland asked if he can tell how the framework addresses the rights of women in Afghanistan and how women were being included in the negotiation process.&nbsp;

The US Commander said that the US and the Taliban are in the very early in the process of talks.&nbsp;

"There have been no agreements from either side. We have not given anything up and they have not given anything up," he said, adding that the US and Special Representatives Khalilzad is not leaving out the democratically-elected government of Afghanistan in the process.

Winning in Afghanistan, the general described means a negotiated settlement between the government of Afghanistan and the Taliban, and safeguarding US national interests.

"Particularly ensuring that this country, this region can't be used to attack our homeland. So that would have to be satisfied as part of an overall agreement here in terms of that and I think is a lot of the nuance of the ongoing discussions that are taking are taking place right now," Gen Votel said.

He also advocated the need to have a sustained presence of the US in Afghanistan.&nbsp;

"I think we have to ensure that there, either through our own presence or through whatever other arrangements we can make, that we can address that particular threat," he said.&nbsp;

The Pentagon has not received any order from President Donald Trump to withdraw troops from war-torn Afghanistan, a top US commander said Thursday. "We've not--congressman, we've not been directed to withdraw (troops from Afghanistan), and there are no orders to withdraw anything," Commander of the US Central Command, General Joseph Votel told members of the House Armed Services Committee during a Congressional hearing.

The Pentagon has not received any order from President Donald Trump to withdraw troops from war-torn Afghanistan, a top US commander said Thursday. "We've not--congressman, we've not been directed to withdraw (troops from Afghanistan), and there are no orders to withdraw anything," Commander of the US Central Command, General Joseph Votel told members of the House Armed Services Committee during a Congressional hearing. Trump had in December last year announced that the US would pull troops from Afghanistan. General Votel said his advice is that any decision to reduce forces in Afghanistan should be done in full consultation with its coalition partners, and of course the government of Afghanistan. "It should pivot off political progress and the reconciliation process," he said, responding to questions from lawmakers on news reports about a timeline of withdrawal of troops from this war-ravaged country. The US General said any drawdown or withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan should be based on conditions on the ground and the progress in the political process as well. A high-level US team led by Special Representatives Zalmay Khalilzad is currently holding talks with the Taliban representatives in Qatar's capital, Doha. "Khalilzad's efforts are really focused on developing a framework that can lead to inter-Afghan discussions," Gen Votel said, adding that this involves overcoming some obstacles that, right now, are preventing the Taliban from talking to the government of Afghanistan. "But Khalilzad is working through those issues. Once those inter-Afghan discussions are commenced, then I think we will have the opportunity to address the issues that you are talking about directly," he said when Congresswoman Debra Haaland asked if he can tell how the framework addresses the rights of women in Afghanistan and how women were being included in the negotiation process. The US Commander said that the US and the Taliban are in the very early in the process of talks. "There have been no agreements from either side. We have not given anything up and they have not given anything up," he said, adding that the US and Special Representatives Khalilzad is not leaving out the democratically-elected government of Afghanistan in the process. Winning in Afghanistan, the general described means a negotiated settlement between the government of Afghanistan and the Taliban, and safeguarding US national interests. "Particularly ensuring that this country, this region can't be used to attack our homeland. So that would have to be satisfied as part of an overall agreement here in terms of that and I think is a lot of the nuance of the ongoing discussions that are taking are taking place right now," Gen Votel said. He also advocated the need to have a sustained presence of the US in Afghanistan. "I think we have to ensure that there, either through our own presence or through whatever other arrangements we can make, that we can address that particular threat," he said.

No direction to withdraw troops from Afghanistan: US general