KABUL – A withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan would not affectsecurity of the war-torn country, a spokesman for President Ashraf Ghanisaid Friday, in the first official response to the news that has leftofficials in Kabul reeling.
“If they withdraw from Afghanistan it will not have a security impactbecause in the last four and half years the Afghans have been in fullcontrol,” presidential spokesman Haroon Chakhansuri said via social media.
President Donald Trump has decided to pull a significant number of troopsfrom Afghanistan, a US official told AFP on Thursday, a day after heannounced a withdrawal from Syria.
“That decision has been made. There will be a significant withdrawal,” theofficial told AFP on condition of anonymity.
Currently, the United States has about 14,000 troops in Afghanistan workingeither with a NATO mission to support Afghan forces or in separatecounter-terrorism operations.
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Trump made his decision Tuesday, the same time he told the Pentagon hewanted to pull all US forces out of Syria.
Defense Secretary Jim Mattis quit earlier Thursday, saying his views wereno longer reconcilable with Trump”s. – APP/AFP
