Pentagon plan could have US troops out of Afghanistan in 3 to 5 years – By Diana Stancy Correll (Washington Examiner) / Feb 28 2019
All U.S. troops could exit Afghanistan within the next half-decade, according to a new report.
A plan under consideration as part of Afghanistan peace negotiations would pull all of the roughly 14,000 U.S. troops from Afghanistan within three to five years, along with other international troops in the region, the New York Times reports. Portions of the plan was shared with the outlet by current and former U.S. and European officials.
The plan would halve the U.S. troop presence in Afghanistan in the next few months. With European and Australian troops taking charge of training Afghan forces, remaining U.S. forces would be freed up to focus more attention on counterterrorism strikes.
The plan has been embraced in some circles in Washington and at NATO headquarters, but American officials caution that President Trump could go down a different path. Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan recently said allies would be consulted before the U.S. withdraws any troops from Afghanistan.
“There will be no unilateral troop reductions,” Shanahan told reporters earlier this month in Brussels after meeting with NATO defense chiefs. “That was one of the messages: It will be coordinated. We’re together.”
Pentagon representative Lt. Col. Kone Faulkner said nothing is finalized, and the Pentagon is “considering all options of force numbers and disposition.”
U.S. Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad is working to secure a peace agreement in Afghanistan and will participate in negotiations with the Taliban in Qatar on Saturday, following up on discussions from earlier in the week. The plan is intended to aid him during these discussions.
A withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan is a top priority for the Taliban, and a possible withdrawal was addressed in a draft framework agreed upon by the United States and the Taliban last month. The draft framework also required the Taliban to bar al Qaeda and the Islamic State from entering Afghanistan and plotting terrorist attacks from the country.
Despite progress in the negotiations, the Afghan government has yet to be included in the discussions due to resistance from the Taliban. Khalilzad and other U.S. officials have stressed the need for the Afghan government to be added to the talks as soon as possible.
In the meantime, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani advised his forces to be prepared for attacks from the Taliban while a peace plan is worked out.
“Peace is not easy; it need courage and bilateral honor,” Ghani said in a speech Thursday.
