1st Battalion, 501st Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, watch the CH-47 Chinook helicopters circling above them during a dust storm at Forward Operating Base Kushamond, Afghanistan, July 17, as they prepare for an air raid mission.
Photo of the US Army
WASHINGTON – NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Thursday that the alliance has not yet decided whether the 10,000 troops it has in Afghanistan will leave the country by May, in accordance with a peace agreement between the US and the Taliban.
“Violence must be reduced and the Taliban must stop cooperating with international terrorist groups planning terrorist attacks in our countries,” Stoltenberg told reporters at the end of a two-day virtual meeting of NATO defense ministers.
Last February, the United States struck a deal with the Taliban that would usher in a permanent ceasefire and further reduce the U.S. military’s footprint from about 13,000 troops to 8,600 by mid-July last year.
Under the deal, all foreign troops would leave the war-weary country by May 2021.
“Our goal is to ensure that we have a lasting political agreement that will allow us to leave in a way that does not undermine our primary purpose and that is to prevent Afghanistan from becoming a safe haven again. [for terrorists]”, Stoltenberg said, adding” That is also why we will continue to assess the situation before making a final decision about our future. “
Jens Stoltenberg, 13th Secretary General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, speaks with the media at NATO headquarters on February 11, 2020 in Brussels, Belgium.
Thierry Monasse / Getty Images
“The majority of the troops come from European allies and partner countries. We will do whatever it takes to make sure our troops are safe,” Stoltenberg said when asked if the alliance was prepared for violence if the agreement with the Taliban. is broken.
There are approximately 2,500 US troops in the country. Currently, the US is scheduled to withdraw US military personnel from Afghanistan by May 1, 2021.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told NATO members that the Biden administration was “scrutinizing the terms of the US-Taliban agreement to determine whether all parties have adhered to those terms,” according to a readout from the United States. the Pentagon of the meeting.
“He assured allies that the US would not rush or disorderly withdraw from Afghanistan,” the statement said.
The Pentagon has previously said that the withdrawal of US forces in Afghanistan would depend on the Taliban’s commitments to uphold the peace deal negotiated last year.
The wars in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria have cost US taxpayers more than $ 1.57 trillion since September 11, 2001, according to a report by the Department of Defense. The war in Afghanistan, which is now America’s longest conflict, began 19 years ago and cost US taxpayers $ 193 billion, according to the Pentagon.
Stoltenberg also said on Thursday that the NATO alliance had decided to expand its security training mission in Iraq. The military alliance agreed to increase its footprint from 500 personnel to approximately 4,000.
“Our presence will depend on the circumstances and the increase in the number of troops will be incremental,” he said, adding that the request for an expanded mission was made by the Iraqi government.