No to Withdrawal of Troop Strength in Afghanistan

NATO has breathed a sigh of relief as it’s biggest patron, United States has flipped its policy on withdrawal of troops in Afghanistan Syria and Iraq. The Biden Administration turnabout keeps NATO funds flowing and supposedly renews importance to its Missions.

The Secretary General said that NATO now faces a difficult choice: stay and face a continued military engagement or leave and risk that Afghanistan again becomes a safe haven for terrorists. “The Taliban must honour their commitments: reduce violence and cut ties to terror groups. Instead we see unacceptable levels of violence by the Taliban, including against doctors, judges and journalists,”he said. “We went into Afghanistan to prevent another 9/11. We have done that. Whatever path we now choose, we must ensure Afghanistan is never again a base for terrorism.”

Unfortunately for Afghans, the Peace process is about to fold.

In a recent conference, US generals weighed in on the need to keep US troops in Afghanistan

General Kenneth F. McKenzie Jr. Middle East Institute Engagement Feb. 8, 2021 Highlights on Afghanistan

The U.S., as the Biden administration has said, has enduring interests in the Middle East. But the U.S. is also mired in enduring wars or endless wars, obviously in Afghanistan and Iraq, among other places, how will that be handled.

Threat comes from several different groups across the entirety of the region, but none as prevalent and globally focused as ISIS and al-Qaeda, across Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and Yemen. Since 9/11, our strategic objective in Afghanistan remains to safeguard the homeland from attacks by VEOs, primarily al-Qaeda and more recently ISIS-K, and preventing them from using Afghanistan as a base and safe haven. Success toward this objective will best be achieved through a negotiated settlement between the Taliban and the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. With our current force level in Afghanistan, we focus heavily on counterterrorism, or CT operations, while continuing to support the NATO led Resolute Support Mission

Gerald Feierstein : The Afghan Study Group of Senator Ayotte and General Dunford to recommend to the president that that he not make that decision to withdraw the last of U.S. forces from Afghanistan according to the schedule, which would be May 1st, I believe
General McKenzie The Taliban continued to resort to extreme violence with targeted killings across the country and frequent attacks on the ANSDF, Afghan forces, while they have mostly avoided attacking U.S. and coalition units. The level of violence is just simply too high. And so that’s an action that we look at. We continue to watch Taliban actions. And I know that the administration is taking a close look at the way forward in accordance with the February 2020 peace agreement. Some key elements of that plan, though, require the Taliban to take actions. And so they need to do some things too, if we’re going to go forward. Look, we all agree that the best path is going to be a negotiated political settlement among the Afghans. No one debates that essential point. However, you have to take a conditions-based approach. Both parties have got to show that they’re willing to make the concessions that are going to be necessary to find a political path forward. And frankly, I remain concerned about the actions that the Taliban have taken up until this point. You look further, the matter is under review. And I would not want to get out ahead of that policy review for obvious reasons. And so we will. But I’ve had the opportunity to give input. I know they’re giving it a great deal of thought and consideration. And we’ll have a way forward here, I think, in the near future.