KABUL – Afghanistan to collapse into a total civil war post US troopswithdrawal, warn former US diplomats.
Nine former US ambassadors on Tuesday warned that Afghanistan couldcollapse in a “total civil war” if President Donald Trump withdraws allAmerican forces before President Ghani’s administration and the Talibanconclude a peace settlement.
“A major troop withdrawal must be contingent on a final peace,” the nineformer diplomats wrote on the website of the Atlantic Council, a thinktank.
“The initial US drawdown should not go so far or so fast that the Talibanbelieve they can achieve military victory.”
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The nine envoys, including five former ambassadors to Kabul, a formerspecial envoy to Afghanistan and a former deputy secretary of State, issuedtheir warning a day after US chief negotiator Zalmay Khalilzad said the USand the Taliban have agreed in principle on withdrawal of nearly 5,000American troops from Afghanistan.
