A word behind Trump: will the United States withdraw five thousand troops from Afghanistan

US Special Representative for Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad announced the achievement of a fundamental agreement with the Taliban *, according to which Washington expressed its readiness to withdraw 5,000 troops from five bases in Afghanistan within 135 days.

In an interview with TOLOnews Afghan television channel, Khalilzad said that interim agreements were reached during the next round of negotiations with the Taliban, which was held in Doha.

At the same time, the Special Representative emphasized that the final decision on this issue rests with the President of the United States Donald Trump.

According to Khalilzad, as part of preliminary agreements with the Taliban at the first stage, we will talk about reducing the US presence in the provinces of Kabul and Parvan, where Bagram air base is located. The US Special Representative said that the US side has leased five bases from the Government of Afghanistan and intends to return them to Kabul.

“The level of violence in areas where the US will withdraw troops will be significantly reduced,” Khalilzad said, adding that the use of force to resolve the conflict is counterproductive.

The other day, the US special envoy announced the completion of the ninth round of talks with Taliban representatives and said that the parties are on the verge of signing an agreement.

“We have completed this round of negotiations with the Taliban in Doha. Later today I will go to Kabul for consultations, ”Khalilzad wrote on Twitter.

We've concluded this round of talks with the Taliban in #Doha. I'll be traveling to #Kabul later today for consultations.

The diplomat added that the parties are on the verge of signing an agreement that "will reduce violence and allow Afghans to sit at the negotiating table to discuss the sustainable peace and territorial integrity of Afghanistan."

Commenting on these statements, an expert at the International Institute for Humanitarian and Political Research, Vladimir Bruter, in a conversation with RT noted that the question in this case is how the withdrawal of troops will affect the internal balance of forces in Afghanistan and how much the Taliban will be able to control the territory of the region.

“The USA, withdrawing troops, signs their surrender. But so far, it is only partial. Now the United States prefers a compromise. If they withdraw all the troops, then there will most likely be no return to Afghanistan, and a partial withdrawal will bring the situation back under the Pentagon’s control, if necessary, ”the expert said.

In turn, the head of the Center for Military-Political Studies of the ISK RAS, Vladimir Batyuk, noted that the fact of such a long stay of American troops in Afghanistan is a serious violation of the unwritten rules of basing the army outside the United States that Americans have adhered to for many decades.

“The Americans are there to provide military-technical assistance to the security forces and moral support for the current Afghan government, which is actually waging a civil war against the Taliban.” The withdrawal of American troops is a severe blow to the current Afghan authorities, who do not understand how to survive it, and evidence of the weakening of the US position in the Near and Middle East, ”the source said.

• Afghan Taliban
• Reuters

The World of Washington and the Taliban

The representatives of both parties call the signing of a peace treaty the ultimate goal of the dialogue. At the same time, the Taliban insists on the subsequent withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan. The United States, however, is sending conflicting signals to this effect.

Earlier, President Donald Trump announced his intention to withdraw the US military from the Islamic republic. In late July, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo spoke of the desire to complete the withdrawal of troops by 2020. However, the same Khalilzad noted in June that Washington was striving for peace, not for the withdrawal of troops.

At the end of August, the US president said that so far the US contingent will supposedly be reduced to 8.6 thousand troops.

"We are reducing our presence to 8.6 thousand (military personnel. - RT ), and then we will determine what will happen next," the American president said in an interview with Fox News Radio.

Against this background, representatives of the Taliban and the American side reported that negotiations between them entered the final stage. Russia will also take part in the process of signing the agreement, Zamir Kabulov, the President’s Special Envoy for Afghanistan, announced this.

According to him, the process of negotiations between the US and the Taliban has not yet been completed. Kabulov noted that the US Special Representative for Afghanistan should coordinate the document with the Taliban, after which he will go to Kabul to meet with the leadership of Afghanistan, and then a date for signing the agreement can be set.

“We are waiting for accurate confirmations. Everything that I say is from various sources of information, but the American special representative, as soon as he completes all the approvals and determines, will contact me. We agreed so, ”Kabulov said.

• US Army Soldiers in Afghanistan
• Reuters
• © Parwiz

Protracted war

The military campaign of the United States and NATO countries in Afghanistan began in December 2001 and has been going on for almost 18 years. Its purpose was the destruction of al-Qaeda ** - the administration of George W. Bush placed the leader of the terrorist group Osama bin Laden responsible for organizing the September 11, 2001 attacks.

The operation reached its peak in the early 2010s, when more than 150 thousand foreign troops were in Afghanistan. In 2014, Barack Obama significantly reduced the American presence in the country - to 14 thousand soldiers and instructors of the US and NATO army.

However, the outcome of this multi-year campaign for Washington was disappointing, experts say. By 2019, the Taliban controlled the territory in which about 65% of the country's population lives.

There are now 14,000 US troops in Afghanistan. This is the largest overseas presence of United States troops in the world. At the same time, Washington’s annual financial infusion into the republic is approximately $ 45 billion.

American investment in Afghanistan has also been the subject of scandal within the United States. For example, in 2016, the Inspector General for Reconstruction of Afghanistan (SIGAR) said that $ 2.3 billion of USAID-sponsored programs in the country "were not successful in general." In addition, the inspectors did not know how specifically the agency sold the funds.

In August 2017, the Inspectorate General of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) reported that the agency did not report, which was spent on 90% of the funds allocated through the Afghanistan Recovery Trust Fund. From March 2012 to April 2016, USAID allocated $ 1.5 billion for programs in Afghanistan.

Returning to the question of a possible reduction in the American contingent in Afghanistan, Vladimir Bruter recalled that this withdrawal of troops is quite in line with President Trump's course.

“Washington initially wanted to negotiate. Trump said that he will withdraw troops from everywhere. The presence of US troops in Afghanistan does not change the situation in the country for the better. The Americans in this case simply help their puppets to stay afloat for some time, but you have to pay for it. The US is trying to minimize these costs, while realizing that they cannot win the war in Afghanistan, ”the expert noted.

In turn, Vladimir Batyuk noted that George W. Bush. He hoped that with the help of the invasion of Afghanistan it would be possible to create a stable liberal democratic regime in the country, and Kabul would become an example for other peoples of the Near and Middle East.

“However, instead, Afghanistan has become the world's largest drug country with a protracted civil war. The Trump administration has seriously reduced the number of US troops in Afghanistan, but did not go to the complete withdrawal of the military from this country. At the moment, there remained units of special forces of the US armed forces, which conduct some operations. I think the US president will finally withdraw his troops from Afghanistan - this is exactly what the Taliban want, ”the expert concluded.

* “Taliban” - the organization was recognized as terrorist by the decision of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation of February 14, 2003

** Al-Qaeda - the organization was recognized as terrorist by decision of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation of February 14, 2003