KABUL – Pentagon chief Mark Esper has indicated that the U.S. mightdrawdown its forces stationed in war-torn Afghanistan if a peace deal isreached.
On his maiden visit to Kabul on Sunday, U.S. Defense Secretary Esper toldreporters accompanying him that they can “get a peace agreement at somepoint, a political agreement”, according to a statement on the DefenseMinistry website.
“And then with regard to a withdraw of forces, as we’ve always said, thatit’ll be conditions based, but we’re confident that we can go down to 8,600without affecting our C.T. [counter-terror] operations,” Esper said.
U.S. maintains nearly 14,000 troops on ground in Afghanistan. Besidescounter-terror operations, the American troops are also involved intraining and advising Afghanistan’s military.
“But all that — again, we think a political agreement is always the bestway forward with regard to next steps in Afghanistan,” he added.
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The statement comes amid efforts by Pakistan to revive U.S.-Taliban peacetalks which were abruptly halted by U.S. President Donald Trump last month.
The official U.S. Defense Secretary account tweeted a statement by Espersaying that NATO led by U.S. Gen. A.S. Miller will “ensure that Afghanistanis never again a safe haven for terrorism”.
