Roughly 650 US troops were expected to remain in Afghanistan to provide security for diplomats after the main American military force completes its withdrawal, which is set to be largely done in the next two weeks, US officials said.
In addition, several hundred additional American forces will remain at the Kabul airport, potentially until September, to assist Turkish troops providing security, as a temporary move until a more formal Turkey-led security operation is in place, the officials said. Overall, officials said the US expects to have American and coalition military command, its leadership and most troops out by July 4, or shortly after that, meeting an aspirational deadline that commanders developed months ago.
The departure of the bulk of the more than 4,000 troops that have been in the country in recent months was unfolding well before President Joe Biden’s September 11 deadline for withdrawal. And it comes amid accelerating Taliban battlefield gains, fuelling fears that the Afghan government and its military could collapse in a matter of months.
Officials have repeatedly stressed that security at the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul was a critical requirement to keeping any US diplomatic staff in Afghanistan. Still, the decision to keep additional troops there for several more months makes it more complicated for the Biden administration to declare a true end to America’s longest war until later this fall.
Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said that as Biden has ordered, the US would complete the withdrawal by early September. “Nothing has changed about that goal.” Kirby said. “The situation is dynamic, and we review our progress daily. Speculation by unnamed sources about potential changes to that timeline should not be construed as predictive.”
On Friday, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and Abdullah Abdullah, chair of the High Council for National Reconciliation, were meeting with Biden at the White House. The two Afghan leaders also were to meet at the Pentagon with Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin and possibly other administration officials, the Pentagon announced.
Getting most troops out by early July had been in doubt because of complications including an outbreak of Covid-19 at the US embassy and the push to get Afghan interpreters and others who helped the US out of the country.
As recently as last week, there was discussion of possibly extending the US troop presence at Bagram Airfield, north of Kabul, but officials said the US presence at the base is expected to end in the next several days.
The roughly 650 US troops that are planned to be a more permanent force presence in Afghanistan will provide security for the US embassy and some ongoing support at the airport.
Officials said that Nato allies, such as Germany, were also very close to being completely out of the country.
Senior Pentagon leaders, including Austin, have been cautious in recent weeks when asked about the troop withdrawal, and they have declined to provide any public details on when the last troops would leave, citing security concerns.
https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3138258/afghanistan-security-fears-mount-taliban-fighters-surround-key
Qatar presses warring Afghans to involve ‘formal mediator’
report in The News, June 25, 2021
ISLAMABAD: Qatar says it has formally proposed to warring sides in Afghanistan to agree to a third-party mediation for moving their stalled peace negotiations forward and reaching a power-sharing arrangement before US-led foreign troops complete their exit from the countryby a September 11 deadline.
Mutlaq bin Majed Al Qahtani, the special Qatari envoy for counterterrorism and mediation of conflict resolution, said his government shared the mediation proposal last week with representatives of the Afghan government and the Taliban insurgency. He made the remarks during an international seminar this week in Qatar’s capital, Doha, international media reported.
“We do not think facilitation is enough. [Afghan negotiators] need formal mediation,” Qahtani said. The seminar’s organiser, the independent Doha-based Center for Conflict and Humanitarian Studies, released video of his speech Thursday.
“The [two Afghan] parties have not yet finalised their agreement with respect to the mediation. One party needs two mediators while the other party needs one mediator,” the Qatari envoy said, without elaborating. “We expect the parties to come to us very, very soon about their final position. They are almost there.” Qahtani said the mediator’s opinions, decisions and proposals would not be binding on the Afghan parties, but he did not say who would conduct the proposed mediation.
The Qatari official stressed, however, it should be an “impartial mediator that understands the cultural sensitivity of the conflict to help the Afghan parties reach a peace settlement “in full conformity of the international law.”https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/854760-qatar-presses-warring-afghans-to-involve-formal-mediator
