Afghanistan: Biden administration considers 6-month extension for US troops

Afghanistan: Biden administration considers 6-month extension for US troops

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No final decision has been made, the official stressed. NBC News first reported that a six-month extension is being considered.
The official noted that the US wants the Taliban to agree to the expansion. Other options are still on the table, including a full withdrawal by May 1, but a sign of President Joe Biden’s current thinking came this week when he told ABC News he did not think it would ‘take much longer’ ‘and said full withdrawal by May 1 “may happen, but it’s difficult.”

Biden has domestic political coverage – some members of Congress are worried about full utilization. And the president has sharply criticized the details that Trump administration has negotiated.

“I’m making the decision on when they’re going. The fact is, it was not a very thorough negotiation that the president – the former president – worked out. So, we are in consultation with our allies as well as the government and the decision – it’s going on now, ‘Biden told ABC.

A report by an influential Afghanistan study group, along with former Gov. Joseph Dunford chairperson, recommended a more flexible timeline based on conditions such as reduced violence.

One critical issue is that the current agreement with the Taliban does not recognize hundreds of US special forces in the country that are not part of the current group of 2,500 US troops there. If they continue to help with terrorism missions beyond a reduction, the US must acknowledge this in general.

Several defense officials had earlier told CNN that the US-led NATO alliance wanted decisions to be taken no later than April 1 because of the challenges of removing US weapons and equipment, amid concerns over some of them in the hands of the Taliban fall.

A Pentagon report says the complete withdrawal could be devastating for ‘the survival of the Afghan state as we know it’.

But while Biden is considering his options, the U.S. military is continuing its operations in the country, after launching airstrikes on the Taliban this week.

U.S. airstrikes over the past few days have targeted “Taliban fighters actively attacking (positions of Afghan national security forces) in Kandahar,” U.S. spokesman for the Afghan forces Colonel Sonny Leggett said in a statement. tweet on Wednesday.

The Taliban ‘strongly condemned’ the US airstrikes on Kandahar, with spokesman Qari Mohammad Yusuf Ahmadi confirming that Taliban members were killed and injured, but did not specify how many.

Ahmadi called the bombings “a clear violation of the Doha Agreement, which can in no way be justified.”

The “Doha Agreement”, signed by the US and the Taliban in Doha, Qatar, more than a year ago, set out a series of commitments by both sides regarding troop levels, counter-terrorism and intra-Afghan dialogue aimed at ‘a permanent and comprehensive ceasefire. ‘

This story was updated Thursday with additional information.

CNN’s Betsy Klein, Devan Cole and Paul LeBlanc contributed to this report.

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