Biden to announce plan to pull out troops from Afghanistan by Sept 11
But critics say Afghan govt will struggle to hold Taleban at bay without support
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Marine General Kenneth McKenzie, head of the United States Central Command, speaking to US troops while visiting Forward Operating Base Fenty in the Afghan city of Jalalabad in September 2019. American troop numbers in Afghanistan peaked at more than 100,000 in 2011. Former US president Donald Trump had tried but failed to pull American troops out of the country before he left office earlier this year.
PHOTO: REUTERS
WASHINGTON • President Joe Biden's planned announcement of a complete US withdrawal from Afghanistan by Sept 11 aims to close the book on America's longest war, as critics warn that peace is anything but assured after two decades of fighting.
As officials disclosed Mr Biden's pullout plans that were to be announced in the United States yesterday (at about 2.15am today in Singapore), the intelligence community renewed deep concerns on Tuesday about the outlook for the US-backed government in Kabul, which is clinging to an eroding stalemate.
"The Afghan government will struggle to hold the Taleban at bay if the coalition withdraws support," said the US assessment, which was sent to Congress. "Kabul continues to face setbacks on the battlefield, and the Taleban is confident it can achieve military victory."
Mr Biden was set to announce at the White House that all US troops in Afghanistan will be withdrawn no later than Sept 11, senior US officials said.
Sept 11 is a highly symbolic date, coming 20 years to the day of Al-Qaeda's attacks on the United States, which prompted then President George W. Bush to launch the conflict in Afghanistan.
The war has cost the lives of 2,400 American service members and consumed an estimated US$2 trillion (S$2.7 trillion).
Mr Biden had faced a May 1 withdrawal deadline, set by his Republican predecessor Donald Trump, who had tried but failed to pull the troops out before he left office.
The Democratic President's decision will keep 2,500 troops in Afghanistan past that May 1 deadline, but officials suggested troops could fully depart before Sept 11.
American troop numbers in Afghanistan peaked at more than 100,000 in 2011.
Meanwhile, Britain and Germany said yesterday that their troops in Afghanistan will match the US withdrawal.
A British government spokesman told Agence France-Presse: "We are working closely with the US, Nato allies and partners to support a secure and stable Afghanistan."
German Defence Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer said she expected a North Atlantic Treaty Organisation decision after a special session of the alliance yesterday.
It remains unclear how Mr Biden's move would affect a planned 10-day summit about Afghanistan starting on April 24 in Istanbul that is due to include the United Nations and Qatar.
The Taleban, which was ousted from power in 2001 by US-led forces, said it would not take part in any summits that would make decisions about Afghanistan until all foreign forces had left the country.
"Until all foreign forces completely withdraw from our homeland, (we) will not participate in any conference that shall make decisions about Afghanistan," Taleban office in Qatar spokesman Mohammad Naeem tweeted on Tuesday.
Critics said the departure plan appeared to surrender Afghanistan to an uncertain fate, something that experts say was perhaps inevitable. "There is no good way that the US can withdraw from Afghanistan. It cannot claim victory, and it cannot wait indefinitely for some cosmetic form of peace," said Professor Anthony Cordesman of the Centre for Strategic and International Studies think-tank in Washington.
Democratic Senator Jack Reed, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, called it a very difficult decision for Mr Biden. "There is no easy answer," Mr Reed said.
US officials can claim to have, years ago, decimated Al-Qaeda's core leadership in the region. But ties between the Taleban and Al-Qaeda elements persist.
By withdrawing without a clear victory, the US opens itself to criticism that a withdrawal is a de facto admission of failure.
The war began as a search for Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden following the Islamist militant group's attacks on Sept 11, 2001, when hijackers slammed airplanes into the World Trade Center in New York City and the Pentagon outside Washington, killing almost 3,000 people.
Bin Laden was killed by a US team of commandos at his Pakistan hideout in 2011.
REUTERS, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
