Postponement of US troop withdrawal violates Washington-Taliban deal: Russia
A recent decision by Washington to reschedule the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan will hinder the peace process and violate the deal with the Taliban, a senior Russian official says.
The news of the plan by the administration of US President Joe Biden to withdraw all the troops by the 20th anniversary of the September 11 attacks has elicited a wide range of reactions in Washington, and elsewhere.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin were coordinating the decision with NATO allies in Brussels on Wednesday.
Reacting to the matter, Russia’s special presidential envoy for Afghanistan, Zamir Kabulov, said the plan “will complicate the peace process as it is an absolutely clear violation of the US-Taliban agreement, which was signed in Doha on February 29, 2020.”
“We will analyze this decision,” Kabulov said on Wednesday.
Under a February 2020 deal between the Taliban and the administration of then President Donald Trump, Washington vowed to withdraw all the troops remaining in Afghanistan. In return, the Taliban pledged to stop attacks on US forces.
Some US senators have criticized President Biden. They argue the plan could embolden the Taliban to further undermine stability in Afghanistan.
The militant group has already threatened to resume attacks against foreign troops in Afghanistan if Washington fails to meet the agreed May 1 deadline.
The United States, along with its NATO allies, invaded Afghanistan in October 2001. The invasion, which has led to the ‘forever war’ in US history, removed the Taliban from power, but the militant group never stopped its attacks.
Washington has spent trillions of dollars for the war on Afghanistan.
Thousands of Afghan civilians have lost their lives over the past two decades of conflict.
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