‘Biden to call back troops from Afghanistan by Sept 11’

WASHINGTON: President Biden will withdraw all US troops from Afghanistan over the coming months, people familiar with the plans said, completing the military exit by the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks that first drew the United States into its longest war.

The decision, which Biden is expected to announce on Wednesday (today), will keep thousands of US forces in the country beyond the May 1 exit deadline that the Trump administration negotiated last year with the Taliban, according to one person familiar with the matter, who like others spoke on condition of anonymity to describe plans that are not yet public, reports Washington Post.

While the Taliban have vowed to renew attacks on the US and NATO personnel if foreign troops are not out by the deadline, it is not clear if they will follow through with those threats given Biden’s plan for a phased withdrawal between now and September.

Biden’s decision comes after an administrative review of US options in Afghanistan, where US-midwived peace talks have failed to advance as hoped and the Taliban remain a potent force despite two decades of effort by the United States to defeat them.

“This is the immediate, practical reality that our policy review discovered,” the person familiar with the deliberations said. “If we break the May 1st deadline negotiated by the previous administration with no clear plan to exit, we will be back at war with the Taliban, and that was not something President Biden believed was in the national interest.” “We’re going to zero troops by September.”