Under Peace Plan, U.S. Military Would Exit Afghanistan Within Five Years

Source: The New York Times



By Thomas Gibbons-Neff and Julian E. Barnes
Feb. 28, 2019

WASHINGTON — All American troops would withdraw from Afghanistan over the next three to five years under a new Pentagon plan being offered in peace negotiations that could lead to a government in Kabul that shares power with the Taliban.

The rest of the international force in Afghanistan would leave at the same time, after having mixed success in stabilizing the country since 2001. The plan is being discussed with European allies and was devised, in part, to appeal to President Trump, who has long expressed skepticism of enduring American roles in wars overseas.

The plan calls for cutting by half, in coming months, the 14,000 American troops currently in Afghanistan. It would task the 8,600 European and Australian troops with training the Afghan military — a focus of the NATO mission for more than a decade — and largely shift American operations to counterterrorism strikes.

Various elements of the plan were shared with The New York Times by more than a half dozen current and former American and European officials. It intends to help talks with the Taliban that are being led by Zalmay Khalilzad, the American special envoy.



Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/28/us/politics/afghanistan-military-withdrawal.html