Full US pullout from Afghanistan could ignite 'total civil war': ex-US envoys

WASHINGTON: Nine former US ambassadors on Tuesday warned that Afghanistan could collapse in a “total civil war” if President Donald Trump withdraws all US forces before the Kabul government and the Taliban conclude a peace settlement, a British wire Agency reported.

“A major troop withdrawal must be contingent on a final peace,” the nine wrote on the website of the Atlantic Council, a think tank. “The initial US drawdown should not go so far or so fast that the Taliban believe they can achieve military victory.”

The nine, including five former ambassadors to Kabul, a former special envoy to Afghanistan and a former deputy secretary of State, issued their warning a day after US chief negotiator Zalmay Khalilzad announced a draft accord with the Taliban for an initial drawdown of nearly 5,000 US troops.

Khalilzad, speaking on Monday to Tolo News television in Kabul, declined to say how long the rest of the roughly 14,000 US troops would stay. But US officials repeatedly have said the pullout would be “conditions based.”

In exchange, the Taliban would commit to preventing their decades-long ally, al-Qaeda, or other extremists from using the country as a springboard for new attacks.

Trump has made clear his impatience to withdraw all US forces and end America’s longest war, which began with a US invasion triggered by the Sept 11, 2001, attacks that al Qaeda launched from then Taliban-ruled Afghanistan. Khalilzad said Trump must approve the draft before it can be signed.

Maintaining a major US troop presence would have “a critical influence on the chances for successful peace negotiations,” the former diplomats wrote. “It is not clear whether peace is possible. The Taliban have made no clear statements about the conditions they would accept for a peaceful settlement with their fellow Afghans, nor do they have a track record of working with other political forces,” they said.