report on TOLOnews, Dec 24, 2020 at 9:09 AM
Acting US Defense Secretary Christopher Miller said after visiting US forces and American military leadership in Kabul on Tuesday said that special operations forces were the first deployed in the war in Afghanistan and likely will be the last troops to leave the country, according to a Stars and Stripes report.
The report said that Miller traveled to Camp Morehead, located south of Kabul, where US special operations forces train Afghan commandos, to hear from troops about the war from the ground.
“I went there on purpose because I’m going to get the real deal from these guys. And their smart-ass comments and their insights led me to the conclusion we’re in a good place,” Miller said, without going into detail.
During his visit, he also met with Army Gen. Scott Miller, the commander of US and coalition forces there, and President Ashraf Ghani to discuss the US commitment to that country’s security and the ongoing withdrawal of roughly 2,500 US troops by Jan. 15.
Miller said he had talked to Gen. Miller “extensively” about the work special operations troops will conduct in the next couple of months as all US forces are expected to leave the country by May 2021, the report said.
They will likely be the last US forces in the country to continue counterterrorism operations against al-Qaida and support the Afghan security forces, he said.
President Ashraf Ghani met with Miller at the Presidential Palace in Kabul on Tuesday afternoon, the Presidential Palace said.
In the meeting, President Ghani said the Afghan govt has taken practical steps for peace and that the other side should also show its clear intentions in this respect, the Presidential Palace said.
The Presidential Palace’s spokesman Sediq Sediqqi in a tweet said that President Ghani and Miller discussed the Afghan peace process, the security situation in Afghanistan and in the region, and the continued support for Afghan forces.
Miller’s trip comes as American troops are withdrawing from Afghanistan after US President Donald Trump last month ordered the number of US forces to be approximately halved to 2,500 by January 15, five days before he leaves office.
The US and Taliban have signed an agreement in Doha, Qatar, in February this year that would see the withdrawal of all US forces from Afghanistan by May 2021 if the Taliban meet certain conditions including a reduction in violence leading to a ceasefire and peace talks with the Afghan government.
https://tolonews.com/afghanistan-168726
