The Afghan government on Thursday welcomed while the Taliban condemned a report requested by the US Congress that has urged the Biden administration to extend the May deadline for the US military troop withdrawal from Afghanistan.
The Afghanistan Study Group, established by the Congress in 2019, says “a complete withdrawal of U.S. troops is based not on an inflexible timeline but on all parties fulfilling their commitments, including the Taliban making good on its promises to contain terrorist groups and reduce violence against the Afghan people, and making compromises to achieve a political settlement.”
The Doha agreement signed in February last year for withdrawal of all troops from Afghanistan by May. US officials say that 2,500 American troops are still stationed in Afghanistan, who are besides several thousands of troops from NATO countries.
The report released on Wednesday that “an immediate diplomatic effort to extend the current May 2021 withdrawal date in order to give the peace process sufficient time to produce an acceptable result.”
The Study Group began its work in April 2020, shortly after the United States and the Taliban signed the Doha agreement that led to the current negotiations between the Taliban and the Afghan government.
The Taliban angrily rejected the report and warned the US against attempting to violate the Doha agreements signed in February last year for withdrawal of all foreign troops.
However, Afghanistan’s first vice-president Amrullah Saleh welcomed the report in a tweet.
“We highly welcome the report which is more nuanced than the title given to it. It asks wisdom & deliberation not impulsive & rush decisions,” Saleh said.
A Taliban statement said any harm to the Doha agreement will have “dangerous consequences” and the other side will be responsible.
“If the Doha agreement is abolished, it will be the cause of a longest war and the US will be responsible,” the statement said, adding the Doha agreement reached after efforts, long discussions, and evaluation by the Taliban and the US negotiation teams and is the only solution to the conflict and a sensible, and an option for durable peace.
“The new US administration should not invest in the continuation of war, warmongers and corrupt. The Taliban are committed to the commitments in the Doha agreement and consider it as the only solution to the Afghan problem,” the Taliban statement said.
The Taliban urged the US to desist from such actions and statements that can take Afghanistan to the state of war which is neither in the interest of the US nor the Afghan nation.
The Taliban condemned former Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Joseph Dunford, who co-chairs the study group, and said Dunford had faced defeat during his military role in Afghanistan and is now making the Afghan issue more complicated.
The Biden administration seemed disappointed with no progress in intra-Afghan negotiations and rise in the violence. Afghan government’s negotiators say there has been no meeting in Doha over the past two weeks as Taliban are not returning to the table. The Taliban have not commented on the government’s statements.
Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said last week that the Taliban are not meeting promises made in the Doha agreement signed in February last year for withdrawal of all troops from Afghanistan by May.
