KABUL (AT News): Soon after reports surfaced that US President Donald Trumpwas set to meet with his national security team Friday afternoon to discussa pending peace agreement with the Taliban, US Senator Lindsey Graham, avocal opposition to Trump, warned him against withdrawing troops fromAfghanistan in a deal with the Taliban.
As a peace deal with the Taliban seems just around the corner, thepossibility of a US troop pullout has raised deep concerns within the USmilitary and among some lawmakers that the situation in Afghanistan couldquickly deteriorate and plunge the country into a new civil war, helping toturn it into a sanctuary for Al-Qaeda and other extremists.
Graham in this regard said that any final deal should allow the US tomaintain a military presence in Afghanistan to pursue resurgent terrorgroups.
“Any peace agreement which denies the U.S. a robust counterterrorismcapability in Afghanistan is not a peace deal. Instead, it is paving theway for another attack on the American homeland and attacks againstAmerican interests around the world.”
He said that President Trump should learn from President Obama’s mistakes.“Be smart, take your time, and listen to your national security team,” headded while addressing Trump.
“To trust the Taliban to control al-Qaeda, ISIS-K, and other radicalIslamist groups present in Afghanistan – as a replacement for a UScounter-terrorism force – would be a bigger mistake than Obama’s Iraniannuclear deal,” he maintained.
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Zalmay Khalilzad, the US special envoy for Afghan reconciliation, has beennegotiating with the Taliban for months on a deal to end America’s war inAfghanistan that would see a withdrawal of troops in exchange forassurances from the group that it would not let the country become a basefor terrorist organizations to launch attacks against the US.
Khalilzad said the last round of talks earlier this month was “productive,”though a deal’s finalization has been hindered by the Taliban’s refusal toenter intra-Afghan talks.
The Pentagon has about 14,000 troops in Afghanistan on a dual mission ofboth training, advising and assisting local forces in the fight against theTaliban and running counterterrorism operations against groups like alQaeda and ISIS.
This comes as there has been no letup in violence in the war even as talkscontinue.
