US Has Assured Troop Pullout will not Affect Security: Abdullah
The United States has assured Afghan government that any U.S. troop pullout would not affect the combat abilities of remaining forces, Afghan Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah said on Wednesday, according to reports.
The United States has assured Afghan government that any U.S. troop pullout would not affect the combat abilities of remaining forces, Afghan Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah said on Wednesday, according to reports.
This remarks comes as US president Donald Trump may withdraw parts of troops from Afghanistan, but has not made a decisive decision yet.
“Of course initially it came with some concerns for all of us,” Abdullah told Reuters on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in the Swiss resort of Davos.
“Later on, through engagement with their envoys and representatives we learned that even if the (U.S.) withdraws, it would be partial, it would not have an impact on the combat abilities,” he added.
“The presence will not come to an end – only if there is peace in Afghanistan,” Abdullah said. “So those details which came out later on kept us assured to some extent.”
Washington has around 14,000 troops in the country as part of a NATO-led mission aiding Afghan security forces.
Speaking on the part of presidential election due to be held on July, Mr Abdullah stressed this year’s votes must be clean.
This year’s vote “has to be clean,” Abdullah said. “The flaws of the previous election have to be corrected. Am I absolutely confident that this will be transparent as we would expect? That’s difficult to judge at this stage.”
