*KABUL: *The US military can slash its troop presence in Afghanistan andstill pack a “lethal punch,” an influential American lawmaker and closeconfidant to President Donald Trump said on Monday.
Republican Senator Lindsey Graham also said it would be “insane” for the USto trust the Taliban to keep al Qaeda and other militants in check,attacking a cornerstone of a prospective deal between Washington and theTaliban.
Graham’s remarks came a day after US media reported that the Trumpadministration could announce plans as early this week to withdraw around4,000 troops from Afghanistan.
The drawdown would mean about 8,600 US troops remaining in Afghanistan,down from the current total of between 12-13,000.
Graham suggested the official announcement might not be as imminent as wassuggested in the American press.
“If President Trump decides in the next few weeks to reduce our forcesbelow the 12,000 we have, I could support that,” Graham told reporters inKabul. “With 8,600 American forces aligned in the right configuration, wewould have a very lethal punch”.
Addressing the on-again, off-again negotiations between the US and theTaliban that have been taking place in Doha this year, Graham took issuewith a central component of an eventual deal, which centres on the USwithdrawing forces in return for a Taliban promise to fight al Qaeda andthe Islamic State group.
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“The Taliban may not be trusted to be a reliable counterterrorism force,”Graham said. “The idea that any agreement would count on the Taliban topolice, be the counterterrorism force to the American homeland, is anonstarter.”
In order to get talks back on track, the Taliban in recent weeks havereduced violence in Kabul.
But Graham suggested the group was still not to be trusted, referencing adeadly attack at Bagram air base outside of Kabul last week.
“To the brilliant masterminds who planned the Bagram attack, you’veprobably done more to set back the process than anything I could think of,”the senator said.
“It would be insane for America to rely on the Taliban to ensure that alQaeda and ISIS-K doesn’t come back,” he said. -APP/AFP
