It will be extremely difficult or impossible to meet conditions for withdrawal by May 2021, says bipartisan Study Group on Afghanistan report
The Taliban (outlawed in Russia) have failed to comply with previous agreements making a withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan by May 2021 and should therefore be delayed. That is the recommendation of President Joe Biden’s administration in a report released Wednesday by the bipartisan US Congressionally mandated Study Group on Afghanistan, The Hill reported.
The panel “believes it would be extremely difficult, if not impossible, to meet those [necessary conditions for withdrawal] by May 2021, when the agreement requires those troops to be withdrawn,” it cited a fragment of the panel’s report.
“Achieving the overarching goal of an agreed stable peace that meets US interests will require [a number of measures], starting with guaranteeing an extension of the May deadline”, – the paper says. – “The United States should increase the importance of [achieving] conditions that enable the withdrawal of U.S. troops.”
On February 29, 2020, the US administration, led by President Donald Trump, and the Taliban signed a peace agreement in Doha under which the United States, its allies and the coalition pledged to withdraw all troops from Afghanistan within 14 months. The Taliban, in turn, guaranteed that they would not use the country’s territory for activities that threaten the security of the United States and its allies.
“The Taliban, according to the report, did not comply with these agreements, and therefore did not provide the conditions for fulfilling the US commitments.”
At a regular briefing for journalists on Wednesday, Ned Price, chief of the State Department press office, said the Biden administration was reviewing last year’s agreement with the Taliban and had not yet made a decision on the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan.