NATO warns that a hasty American withdrawal from Afghanistan would have "a very high price"

Outgoing President Donald Trump wants US troops to return from Afghanistan by Christmas 2021. Here, an American soldier, during an operation in the Afghan city of Marjah, in Helmand province, February 21, 2010. REUTERS / Goran Tomasevic

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While Donald Trump wants to speed up the withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan, the NATO secretary general warns Tuesday, November 17 that a precipitous departure would have "a very high price".

Jens Stoltenberg is almost head on with the outgoing US president, because if the Atlantic Alliance leaves Afghanistan, it must be done in a coordinated manner.

But Donald Trump wants his troops to be back before Christmas 2021.

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From our correspondent in Brussels,

Pierre Benazet

The NATO secretary general avoids expressly criticizing

the United States or its President Donald Trump

himself, but Jens Stoltenberg's remarks on

the withdrawal from Afghanistan

are a formal warning to the outgoing president.

Jens Stoltenberg points out that it has been nearly twenty years since the troops of NATO countries have been in Afghanistan, and that the Alliance went there to support the United States after September 11.

Of the hundreds of thousands of men who took part in these missions, " 

over a thousand of them paid the ultimate price

 " with their lives.

And more than half of the approximately 12,000 troops currently there are " 

non-American forces

 ," members of the Allied armies who fight alongside American troops.

The

NATO

" 

is committed

 " to support Afghan forces " 

until 2024

 ," said Jens Stoltenberg, and if she leaves early or uncoordinated manner, " 

the

Afghanistan may once again become a base for international terrorists

 " and the group " 

Islamic State could rebuild in Afghanistan the caliphate of terror it lost in Syria and Iraq

 ".

For four years, the Secretary General of NATO has been trying to maintain the unity of the Alliance in the face of the

tensions caused by Donald Trump

.

However, he has

already congratulated President-elect Joe Biden

and we can feel him growing wings while waiting for the

new US president to take office

.

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  • Nato

  • Afghanistan

  • United States

  • Taliban

  • Defense

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