President Donald Trump has decided to pull a significant number of troops from Afghanistan, a US official told AFP on Thursday, with some reports suggesting as many as 50 percent could leave the war-torn country.
“If you’re the Taliban, Christmas has come early,” a senior foreign official in the Afghan capital told AFP on the condition of anonymity.
“Would you be thinking of a ceasefire if your main opponent has just withdrawn half their troops?”
It is not clear if US peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad or the Afghan government had been aware of Trump’s plans. A spokesman for President Ashraf Ghani said “if there is any reaction by the Afghan government, we will share it later”.
The decision apparently came after Khalilzad met with the Taliban in Abu Dhabi this week, part of a flurry of diplomatic efforts to bring the Taliban to the negotiating table with the Afghan government.
They are believed to have discussed issues including the group’s longstanding demand for a pullout of foreign troops and a ceasefire.
“That decision has been made. There will be a significant withdrawal,” the American official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
Trump made his decision Tuesday, the same time he told the Pentagon he wanted to pull all US forces out of Syria and as talks were ongoing in Abu Dhabi.
Defense Secretary Jim Mattis quit earlier Thursday, saying his views were no longer reconcilable with Trump’s.
Source: AFP
