US troop drawdown from Afghanistan continues

KABUL continues despite turmoil in the war-devastated country, the Department of Defence says.

The withdrawal of forces would meet a timeline that that the US had set in a peace pact with the Taliban at the end of February this year, the Pentagon hoped.

Reuters quoted Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman as telling a media briefing on Friday: “That is still going forward. We expect to meet that within the timeline laid out under the agreement with the Taliban.”

The Pentagon statement comes days after dual attacks on a maternity ward in Kabul and a funeral in eastern Nangarhar province caused dozens of casualties earlier in the week.

The Trump administration has pledged to reduce to 8,600 the US military presence in Afghanistan by mid-July. All foreign forces are supposed to leave the country by next spring.

In addition to withdrawing its troops, the US has also promised pulling out all intelligence agency personnel, private security contractors, trainers and advisers.

PAN Monitor/mud

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