A week after the signing of an agreement between the United States and the Taliban, the American army began to withdraw from two bases in Afghanistan, one of which is in an insurgent stronghold, an American official announced this Tuesday.
These two bases are located in Lashkar Gah, the capital of Helmand province (south) and in Herat province (West), said the American official.
Total withdrawal of military forces within 14 months
According to the text of the agreement, the number of American soldiers on the spot should drop from 12 or 13,000 to 8,600 by mid-July. Five of the 20 or so US bases in the country are to be evacuated. US forces retain "all means ... to achieve (their) goals," said Colonel Sonny Leggett, spokesman for US forces in Afghanistan, on Monday. According to Omar Zwak, spokesperson for the governor of Helmand, only "20 or 30" foreign soldiers have left Lashkar Gah since the weekend.
Desiring to end the longest war in its history, the United States has pledged in the Doha agreement to the total withdrawal of foreign forces from Afghanistan within 14 months, if the Taliban respect security commitments. Helmand is, along with the neighboring province of Kandahar, considered a stronghold of the Taliban, where American and British troops have been particularly targeted in the 18 years of the Afghan conflict.
Afghanistan in the midst of an institutional crisis
This first downsizing comes as the Taliban, who see the agreement as a "victory" against the United States, are testing Washington's desire to protect its Afghan partners, particularly in Helmand. On March 3, the US military resolved to make an initial air strike against the insurgents after the Doha deal after they had attacked Afghan forces in the province 43 times in one day.
Under the terms of the agreement, insurgents pledge to fight jihadist groups in the country as well as participate in discussions with the Afghan government. However, it is unlikely that Kabul will be able to present a delegation capable of facing the Taliban at the inter-Afghan negotiating table, which is supposed to start on Tuesday but which will in all likelihood be postponed. On Monday, Ashraf Ghani, winner of the September presidential election, and his main rival Abdullah Abdullah, who also claims victory, both declared themselves presidents of Afghanistan, plunging the country into an institutional crisis.
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