Troops of the United States of America are to be withdrawn from Afghanistan by September 2021.
The September withdrawal Mark’s the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks that drew the United States into its longest war.
The announcement which is to be made officially later in the day by US President, Joe Biden would go contrary to the May 1 exit negotiated by the Trump administration last year with the Taliban.
Recall, the Taliban forces had earlier threatened to renew attacks as well as halt talks about Afghanistan’s future until all “foreign forces” have depart.
The Taliban has conducted sputtering talks with the Afghan government, begun under the Trump deal, since last fall. It was also invited to an additional high-level inter-Afghan discussion in Turkey later this month.
Officially, there are 2,500 U.S. troops in Afghanistan, although the number fluctuates and is currently about 1,000 more than that. There are also up to an additional 7,000 foreign forces in the coalition there, the majority of them NATO troops.
Biden’s decision comes after an administration review of U.S. options in Afghanistan, where U.S.-midwifed peace talks have failed to advance as hoped and the Taliban remains a potent force despite two decades of effort by the United States to defeat the militants and establish stable, democratic governance.
The war has cost trillions of dollars in addition to the lives of more than 2,000 U.S. service members. At least 100,000 Afghan civilians have been injured or killed.
