The United States has started withdrawing troops from Afghanistan as part of a “peace” deal with the Taliban, the military announced today.
A spokesman for the US military in Afghanistan said that forces had begun its “conditions-based reduction of forces to 8,600 over 135 days”.
Currently, the US has about 13,000 soldiers there — 8,000 of whom are involved in training and advising Afghanistan’s National Security Forces, while about 5,000 are involved in anti-terror operations and militarily supporting the Afghan army.
The US-Taliban deal, signed on February 29, was touted as Washington’s effort to end 18 years of war in Afghanistan.
But those plans were in disarray today after President Ashraf Ghani and his main political rival Abdullah Abdullah were both sworn in as president in separate ceremonies yesterday, throwing the prospective talks with the Taliban into chaos.
Mr Ghani has also been dragging his feet on another key pledge in the deal — the release of 5,000 Taliban prisoners.
He promised to announce a decree to free the prisoners after the US and other foreign powers backed his claim to the presidency by sending their representatives to his inauguration.
The US has said its partial withdrawal is linked to the Taliban keeping their promise to help fight terror in Afghanistan.
