MONITORING (SW) – The NATO has reiterated its position on the Resolute Support mission in Afghanistan has not changed in the wake of drawdown of the U.S. forces.
A NATO official told Salam Watandar the Alliance is carrying out Train/Advise/Assist mission in its current configuration, with a Headquarters in Kabul and four regional commands. “We are helping the Afghan security forces in their efforts towards lasting peace, and ensuring that Afghanistan never again becomes a safe haven for international terrorism. NATO continues to support the Afghan peace process, and as part of the peace process, we stand ready to further adjust our presence, in line with our conditions-based approach”, said the NATO official.
It is important to note NATO Defence Ministers will discuss the Alliance’s presence in Afghanistan at the meeting in February. “Whatever path we choose, it is important that we do so together, in a coordinated and deliberate way”, said the official.
Reports suggest the U.S. military has met its goal of reducing the number of troops in Afghanistan to about 2,500.
The reduction could complicate matters for the incoming Biden administration, which must determine how to handle a Trump administration commitment to the Taliban to remove all U.S. military, intelligence and contractor personnel from Afghanistan by May as a move to spur peace negotiations, the AP reported.
According to the report, senior U.S. commanders are skeptical of the Taliban’s stated commitment to peace, although they have said they can accomplish their mission in Afghanistan with 2,500 troops.
Christopher Miller, in his final days as the acting secretary of defense, announced on Friday the 2,500 troop level, saying it brings the United States “closer than ever to ending nearly two decades of war.” He said the U.S. remains in position to “ensure that Afghanistan is never again used to harbor those who seek to bring harm to the United States of America.”
President Donald Trump, who ordered the reduction in November, when there were about 4,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan, said Thursday that troop levels in Afghanistan had reached a 19-year low, although he did not mention a troop number. Last February his administration struck a deal with the Taliban to reduce American troop levels in phases and to go to zero by May 2021. It is unclear how the incoming Biden administration will proceed.
President-elect Joe Biden, who has advocated keeping a small counterterrorism force in Afghanistan as a way to ensure that extremist groups like al-Qaida are unable to launch attacks on the United States, faces a number of questions on Afghanistan. One is how and whether to proceed with fledgling peace talks between the Taliban and the Afghan government.
Trump in his brief statement alluded to his longstanding desire to get out of Afghanistan entirely. “I will always be committed to stopping the endless wars,” he said, referring to U.S. wars that have dragged on in Afghanistan since 2001 and in Iraq for much of the period since 2003.
Although senior military officials had cautioned against speedy troop reductions in Afghanistan, Miller announced on Nov. 17 that he was implementing Trump’s order. As a result, military commanders scrambled to pull more than 1,500 troops out of the country in the last few weeks. At Trump’s order, commanders also cut U.S. troop levels in Iraq to 2,500 from about 3,000 in the same period. Miller confirmed Friday that the Iraq drawdown had been completed.
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