Taliban threaten to target foreign troops if deadline is not met
The threat of armed groups follows comments by U.S. President Joe Biden who said it would be difficult to withdraw the last U.S. troops by the May deadline agreed in peace talks last year.
The Taliban have threatened to resume hostilities against foreign troops in Afghanistan if they do not meet the May 1 deadline to withdraw.
If the May 1 deadline is not met, the Taliban will be forced to continue its Jihad and armed struggle against foreign forces to liberate its country, the group said in a statement Friday.
The threat of armed groups followed comments from U.S. President Joe Biden, who on Thursday said it would be difficult to withdraw the last U.S. troops within the timeframe agreed with Washington last year.
It is not my intention to stay there for long, Biden said, We will leave. The question is when do we leave. When asked if American troops will still be in Afghanistan next year, he said, I can not imagine that.
The Taliban said they were committed to the deal, which she called the most sensitive and shortest way to end the conflict.
The responsibility for its extension will be on the shoulders of those who committed this violation, the statement said.
Under the February 2020 deal negotiated by Bidens’s previous administration, Donald Trumps, the U.S. promised to withdraw all 2,500 U.S. troops remaining in Afghanistan.
In return, the Taliban vowed to renounce violence, prevent groups such as al-Qaeda from using Afghanistan as a base from which to attack U.S. and allied targets, and enter intra-Afghan peace talks. .
Violence, however, continues to plague the South Asian country, including a recent rise in killings of journalists, aid workers and government employees.
The longest US conflict
More than 100,000 Afghans have been killed or injured since 2009 when the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan began documenting casualties.
Since 2002, the U.S. has spent $ 143 billion on reconstruction in Afghanistan, including $ 88 billion on training and supporting the Afghan military.
Biden, like his predecessor, has vowed to end the nearly 20-year-old conflict, the longest U.S., and return American troops to the country.
Approximately 7,000 NATO troops in Afghanistan rely on the US for logistical and security support.
Germany extends the mission
Earlier this week, Germany paved the way for its troops to stay in Afghanistan beyond the May 1 deadline. Lawmakers approved a new mandate that allows the German military to hold up to 1,300 troops in Afghanistan as part of a NATO mission until January 31, 2022.
The current parliamentary mandate for the German operation expires at the end of March.
The German government has warned that a premature withdrawal of NATO troops could jeopardize intra-Afghan peace talks, adding that NATO troops would have to prepare for Taliban violence if they stayed beyond the end of April.
