–Pentagon officials say Taliban must ensure Afghanistan doesn’t become sanctuary for extremists
WASHINGTON DC: President Donald Trump on Thursday said that US troop levels in Afghanistan will drop to 8,600 if a deal is reached with the Taliban and that a permanent presence will remain.
“We´re going down to 8,600 and then we make a determination from there,” Trump said in an interview with Fox News radio. “We´re always going to have a presence.”
Trump also said that if another attack on the United States originated from Afghanistan “we would come back with a force like… never before.”
US troops were first sent to Afghanistan after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on US soil carried out by Al-Qaeda, which was sheltered by the former Taliban regime.
Washington now wants to end its military involvement and has been talking to the Taliban since at least 2018. Trump says that troops will only be reduced when the Taliban gives a guarantee that its territory will not be used by Al-Qaeda or other international militant groups.
Trump underlined that there was to be no complete withdrawal, keeping a force that would provide “high intelligence.”
“You have to keep a presence,” he said.
Separately, Defense Secretary Mark Esper, who was confirmed as the Pentagon chief just one month ago, told reporters that talks with the Taliban in Qatar must guarantee that Afghanistan “is no longer a safe haven for terrorists to attack the United States.”
General Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said a deal on drawing down the 13,000 US troops in the country, after fighting for nearly two decades to what many call a stalemate, must not leave Al-Qaeda, the Islamic State (IS) group and other US-designated “terror” organizations space to continue their activities.
“I’m not using the ‘withdrawal’ word right now,” Dunford said, standing next to Esper.
“I’m using, we’re going to make sure that Afghanistan is not a sanctuary, and we’re going to try to have an effort to bring peace and stability to Afghanistan.”
Dunford said it was clear that there needed to be a negotiated solution and one that involved not just the United States but the Afghan government.
“I view any agreement that would be pending is something we are doing with, not to, the Afghan people.”
“What is needed is some type of disruption to the status quo,” he said.
“I think an agreement that can initiate inter-Afghan dialogue, potentially leading to a reduction in violence associated with the insurgency, is something that’s worth trying.”
‘WE WANT STABILITY’:
“I think any of us who have served there have long known that what’s going to be required is a negotiated peace settlement,” he said.
“We want stability for the Afghan people.”
Amid concerns that Afghan government forces are not yet capable of confronting IS, which has mounted repeated deadly attacks against the military and civilians, Dunford declined to say whether the Pentagon was planning to keep come counter-terror operations active in the country over the years to come.
Any agreement is going to be “conditions-based,” he said, and it was “premature” to talk about “what our counter-terrorism presence in Afghanistan may or may not be.”
“The president and the secretary have made it quite clear to me that, as this progresses, we ensure that our counter-terrorism objectives are addressed.”
Meanwhile, both Esper and Dunford distanced the US military from a series of strikes Israel has allegedly conducted in Iraq, Syria and elsewhere targeting Iranian-linked weapons depots and supply lines.