Taliban militants and villagers attend a gathering in Alingar District, Laghman Province, eastern Afghanistan, March 2, 2020.
The Afghan extremist group Taliban (Taliban) issued a statement Thursday (15) harshly condemning U.S. President Joe Biden for delaying the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan and stressing that former U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration had agreed to leave Afghanistan by May 1, but Biden extended the deadline by another four months.
In a speech Wednesday, Biden announced that all U.S. troops will leave Afghanistan by Sept. 11, 2021, the 20th anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the United States. Biden said the war has gone on too long and it’s time to end America’s longest war.
The Taliban responded to Biden’s statement by emphasizing that under Trump, the U.S. has reached a binding agreement with the group that includes the withdrawal of troops in May of this year.
“This decision is a clear violation of the Doha Agreement (Doha Agreement) and a failure to abide by its commitments,” The Taliban said.
“This agreement was signed in the presence of the United Nations and representatives of numerous countries and organizations around the world, and is now being violated by the United States.” In the statement, the Taliban wrote that “all countries and organizations that witnessed the signing of this agreement must put pressure on the United States to fulfill its commitments and withdraw all its forces from Afghanistan by the set date.”
The Taliban concluded by saying that it has largely stopped attacking U.S. forces as part of the Doha Agreement, but that they will resume attacks between May 1 and Sept. 11 and that the United States will be held responsible for all future consequences for violating the agreement.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg confirmed Thursday that the organization still has about 10,000 troops in Afghanistan and will begin withdrawing them by May 1, Trump’s original deadline.
The Afghan government’s response to Biden’s decision to delay the withdrawal was low-key, with the Afghan president tweeting a statement saying he spoke with Biden about extending the U.S. military presence and expressed “respect” for the decision.
It is worth noting, however, that Taliban operations have escalated significantly, with attacks on Afghan forces increasing significantly. A spokesman for the governor of Badakhshan province said Taliban forces launched a deadly attack on the Afghan National Army (ANA) on Tuesday morning, killing three soldiers in the province, according to Khaama Press, an online news agency in Afghanistan.
Another attack, which occurred roughly at the same time, left 10 ANA dead and three others wounded.
Later Monday, the Taliban launched an operation in the northern province of Balkh, reportedly abducting five Afghan National Army soldiers.
When Biden was vice president, the Obama administration promised that U.S. troops would leave Afghanistan in 2014, but did not keep that promise, instead leaving 8,600 troops in Afghanistan when Trump took over as president.
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