And so it begins, U.S. troops start to withdraw from Afghanistan

[Swordsmyth]

Hardly a week has passed since the conditional peace treaty between the U.S. and the Taliban, and American troops are already leaving the country.
Despite evidence that the Taliban have resumed attacks on Afghan government forces, U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper has given the order for the United States to begin withdrawing troops from Afghanistan.s.
Esper, speaking to the media on Monday, said that the troop withdrawal order to Army Gen. Scott Miller, the commander of U.S. forces in Kabul, is in keeping with the peace deal with the Taliban. The peace deal calls for an American troop reduction to begin within 10 days of the deal’s signing.
“My instructions to the commander [were]: ‘Let’s get moving, let’s show our full faith and effort to do that,'” Esper said in Washington with the Joint Chiefs General Milley also in attendance. “I’ve said on many occasions that I’m comfortable we can still conduct all the missions we need to conduct [with] 8,600 [troops].”
The Americans are to cut 4,000 troops in Afghanistan within the first 135 days according to the terms of the deal. There are currently 13,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan; the remaining 8,600 would leave within 14 months.

More at: https://sofrep.com/news/and-so-it-begins-u-s-troops-start-to-withdraw-from-afghanistan/

 

[enhanced_deficit]

Bold move to start to reducee the Afghan surge he had sent in 2017.

PSA: Taliban peace deal reduces troop levels to start of Trump presidency

18,000+ troops he surged to mideast in late 2019 will still be there by end of his first term.

“My instructions to the commander [were]: ‘Let’s get moving, let’s show our full faith and effort to do that,'” Esper said in Washington with the Joint Chiefs General Milley also in attendance. “I’ve said on many occasions that I’m comfortable we can still conduct all the missions we need to conduct [with] 8,600 [troops].”

Perhaps it should also be added to PRs soundbites that will be cited in 2020 election rallies, what was net gain of the 2017 surge and lives/limbs/treasure lost ?
So as long as admission of mistake is not celeberated as some 'success story', it's encouraging sign for future surges planning.

Stats Show Trump’s Afghanistan Surge Has Failed

 

[vita3]

Let me know when he actually gets back to square zero

You hype him way too much swordsm

 

[Origanalist]

Let me know when he actually gets back to square zero

You hype him way too much swordsm

Pretty much my position, when we're out I'll give credit where credit is due. Until then there's always a good chance of something happening to cause another escalation.

 

[specsaregood]

Pretty much my position, when we're out I'll give credit where credit is due. Until then there's always a good chance of something happening to cause another escalation.

Still won't hurt to give our full support in favor of the withdrawal.

 

[Origanalist]

Still won't hurt to give our full support in favor of the withdrawal.

Absolutely not. Hurray for starting and finish the job!

 

[pcosmar]

Still won't hurt to give our full support in favor of the withdrawal.

Dude,,we have been screaming "Withdraw" for years..

Empty Promises and vague and misleading reports and not backed up by factual movement.

There should be round the clock airlifts till they are gone. and that done long ago.

I ain't seen it happen.. Despite what the Lying Clown in Chief says.

 

[AngryCanadian]

Dude,,we have been screaming "Withdraw" for years..

Empty Promises and vague and misleading reports and not backed up by factual movement.

There should be round the clock airlifts till they are gone. and that done long ago.

I ain't seen it happen.. Despite what the Lying Clown in Chief says.

I will believe a withdraw when i see it happen these war mongers, interventionists arent letting it happen so easily. Afghanistan's president should have just done the right thing and just release the POW like how the Taliban asked for it in the deal.

The Afghanistan's president is a fool if he believes that his side and west will be winning securing part of Afghanistan that Taliban have taken we had being in their for 20 years doing the same thing and what had we achieved in these military operations agaisnt them?
Nothing.

Afghanistan's president looks like a puppet for the MC/DS who thinks the west could stay longer. For what though? till shift happens?

 

[pcosmar]

I will believe a withdraw when i see it happen these war mongers,

Dude..the "Taliban" are the Legitimate Government of that country.

They will not accept an American Puppet Govt any more than they would a Russian Puppet..

 

[AngryCanadian]

Dude..the "Taliban" are the Legitimate Government of that country.

They will not accept an American Puppet Govt any more than they would a Russian Puppet..

Indeed you are right about that one, not mention the Taliban are the same forces and fighters which had driven out the soviet union/Russian troops in the 80s. They were the mujahideen fighters which the west armed and supported agaisnt a moderate Russian backed government in afghanistan who gave women rights among other issues.

Its kinda of ironic seeing the west being defeated by the very thing they created and armed.

"But they are just moderate rebels"

 

[dannno]

 

[specsaregood]

Dude,,we have been screaming "Withdraw" for years..

Empty Promises and vague and misleading reports and not backed up by factual movement.

There should be round the clock airlifts till they are gone. and that done long ago.

I ain't seen it happen.. Despite what the Lying Clown in Chief says.

yes, yes, dude, I get it. The thread is about the order to begin withdrawing having been given. I have NOTHING negative to say about that; I see no reason to give anything but positive reinforcement. If it doesn't happen, then I'll go back to bitching and moaning like the rest of you.

 

[RonZeplin]

Neo-conned again

Dude..the "Taliban" are the Legitimate Government of that country.

They will not accept an American Puppet Govt any more than they would a Russian Puppet..

The US neocons are still propping up their puppets in the ME.

Shah of Iran, Gerry Ford, Kissinger - Nuclear Tech lesson.

We install it, and you flip this switch to start.....

 

[Swordsmyth]

Bold move to start to reducee the Afghan surge he had sent in 2017.

PSA: Taliban peace deal reduces troop levels to start of Trump presidency

18,000+ troops he surged to mideast in late 2019 will still be there by end of his first term.



Perhaps it should also be added to PRs soundbites that will be cited in 2020 election rallies, what was net gain of the 2017 surge and lives/limbs/treasure lost ?
So as long as admission of mistake is not celeberated as some 'success story', it's encouraging sign for future surges planning.

Stats Show Trump’s Afghanistan Surge Has Failed

the remaining 8,600 would leave within 14 months.

 

[TheCount]

Yet another pre-celebration

 

[oyarde]

I am gonna party like its 1999 .

 

[pcosmar]

yes, yes, dude, I get it. The thread is about the order to begin withdrawing having been given. I have NOTHING negative to say about that; I see no reason to give anything but positive reinforcement. If it doesn't happen, then I'll go back to bitching and moaning like the rest of you.

And how many times has that order been given,,only to be ignored of rescinded??..

I HAVE HEARD THIS $HIT BEFORE..

It still smells like $hit.

 

[Anti Globalist]

Won't be satisfied until every soldier in that region comes home.

 

[Swordsmyth]

The Taliban's spokesman in Qatar, Suhail Shaheen, said in a tweet after the U.S. strike on Wednesday that the insurgent group had implemented "all parts of the agreement one after the other to prevent escalation."

Taliban commander Salih Khan in Helmand, meanwhile, told CBS News' Sami Yousafzai that the deal with the U.S. could "vanish" if American forces continue targeting Taliban fighters. He said he was awaiting further word from the group's leadership, but that he had already received orders to resume attacking Afghan forces — but not foreign troops.
"Now we are happy to resume attacking U.S. forces as well, if our leaders order" it, he said.
Another Taliban representative in Qatar, Salam Hanafi, told fellow leaders of the group in a message forwarded to CBS News' Yousafzai later Wednesday that the Taliban did not consider the American airstrike a violation of the deal signed over the weekend. Hanafi said that under the deal U.S. forces can still defend their Afghan allies from attacking Taliban militants, "just on the spot" of the initial attack.
He said as long as American troops do not pursue or carry out targeted strikes against the insurgents elsewhere, retaliation was essentially fair game.
"If [the] USA did not add this condition, then [the] Afghan government would collapse, instead of in 14 months, in 14 days," Hanafi boasted. The group has long been dismissive of the Afghan government, and insisted on carrying out negotiations for the agreement signed in Doha with U.S. diplomats, not Afghan government officials.

More at: https://news.yahoo.com/4-days-u-signs-deal-043139325.html

 

[Swordsmyth]

President Donald Trump has pushed his military and national security advisers in recent days to pull all U.S. troops out of Afghanistan amid concerns about a major coronavirus outbreak in the war-torn country, according to two current and one former senior U.S. officials.

Trump complains almost daily that U.S. troops are still in Afghanistan and are now vulnerable to the pandemic, the officials said. His renewed push to withdraw all of them has been spurred by the convergence of his concern that coronavirus poses a force protection issue for thousands of U.S. troops in Afghanistan and his impatience with the halting progress of his peace deal with the Taliban, the officials said.

The U.S. military is in the midst of a drawdown in Afghanistan already. In early March it began decreasing its total footprint from more than 12,000 to 8,600 over 135 days. But troops have been leaving the country faster than originally planned, according to two U.S. defense officials, and the U.S. is now on track to beat the original deadline.

"U.S. Forces Afghanistan continues to draw down force levels and expects to be at 8,600 U.S. troops in 135 days (mid-July) in accordance with the U.S.-Taliban agreement. USFOR-A remains committed to supporting our Afghan partners throughout the process and maintains the capabilities and authorities necessary to accomplish our objectives," said Lt. Col. Thomas Campbell, a Pentagon spokesperson.

Trump, who campaigned in 2016 with a promise to end wars like the one in Afghanistan, has frequently expressed frustration with progress there since his early days in office. But the recent political stalemate combined with the COVID-19 pandemic has reinvigorated his impatience.

"He is itching to get out. He's pushing the Pentagon on it," the former official said.

More at: https://news.yahoo.com/trump-pushes-advisers-u-troops-150000743.html