WASHINGTON – Former US General cautions US over withdrawing troops fromAfghanistan.
A retired US Army general David Petraeus has suggested that the UnitedStates should not abandon Afghanistan as it did Iraq by withdrawing all itstroops from the country.
In an articlelinkin the Wall Street Journal and co-written by Vance Serchuk, an adjunctsenior fellow at the Center for a New American Security, Mr. Petraeus saysthe history should not be repeated in Afghanistan and that leaders inWashington must proceed with caution.
Mr. Petraeus, who has served as commander of US Central Command and ofcoalition forces in Iraq and Afghanistan and as director of the CentralIntelligence Agency, says that a complete military exit from Afghanistantoday would be even more ill-advised and risky than the Obamaadministration’s disengagement from Iraq in 2011.
His comments are expressed at a time that the US is negotiating awithdrawal of its troops from Afghanistan with the Taliban in Doha.
A senior member of the Taliban, Mullah Khairullah Khairkhwah, said onFriday that the US and the Taliban negotiators will likely sign themuch-awaited peace agreement after at the end of this week.
Mr. Khairullah said the talks between the US and the group will continueafter Eid al-Adha which ends on August 13.
He said that the peace deal between the US and the Taliban will be signedin the presence of representatives of the UN the Islamic Organization andregional countries after the return of the US Special Envoy ZalmayKhalilzad to Doha after Eid (August 14).
Mr. Khalilzad has said that the US is seeking a peace deal which willfacilitate a conditions-based withdrawal of American forces fromwar-ravaged Afghanistan.
But, Mr. Petraeus describes Afghanistan’s situation as complicated due tothe presence of “20 foreign terrorist organizations, including al Qaeda andDaesh”, who “will not join a peace deal”.
US President Donald Trump in many occasions in the last few months hasmentioned that he will withdraw his troops from Afghanistan as he has spentbillions of dollars for the longest war in US history.
Mr. Petraeus says that “the idea that the US can leave if the Talibanpromise to combat rather than conspire with these groups is wrongheaded”.
He says that the Taliban have clearly indicated what they will try to doonce US forces are gone: overthrow the Afghan government and reimposemedieval rule.