And so it begins, U.S. troops start to withdraw from Afghanistan

[Swordsmyth]

Anti-Troll bump

[Swordsmyth]

Anti-Troll bump

[Swordsmyth]

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid announced the group was observing a three-day ceasefire for Eid al Adha beginning July 31, Tolo News reported July 28

More at: https://worldview.stratfor.com/situa...muslim-holiday

[Swordsmyth]

The US will reduce its military presence in Afghanistan to about 4,000 troops “very soon,” US President Donald Trump said.

“We are largely out of Afghanistan,” Trump said in an interview with US news website Axios, aired on Monday.

“We’ll be down in a very short period of time to 8,000, then we’re going to be down to 4,000, we’re negotiating right now”, the US president elaborated, without specifying the exact time, but saying that it will happen “very soon.”

Asked how many US troops will remain in Afghanistan on election day in November, Trump said that it would be “anywhere from four to five thousand.”

The statement by the president comes after US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo last week said that Trump’s expectation was to get all remaining US troops out of Afghanistan by May 2021.

More at: https://www.infowars.com/trump-expec...tan-very-soon/

We got ahead of schedule before and I'd bet we do it again.

[RonPaulRocksMyWorld]

“We got ahead of schedule before and I'd bet we do it again.”

Why not all of them before Election Day? Is this not important enough to end it barring reelection...bring them all home NOW!

[Swordsmyth]

The United States plans to cut its troop levels in Afghanistan to “a number less than 5,000” by the end of November, Defense Secretary Mark Esper said in an interview broadcast on Saturday, adding detail to drawdown plans U.S. President Donald Trump announced earlier this week.

The United States currently has about 8,600 troops in Afghanistan. Trump said in an interview released Monday by Axios that the United States planned to lower that number to about 4,000.

Esper announced the lower troop levels in a Fox News interview.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-u...-idUSKCN255031

[Swordsmyth]

Afghanistan agreed on Sunday to release 400 “hard-core” Taliban prisoners, paving the way for the beginning of peace talks aimed at ending more than 19 years of war.

Under election-year pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump for a deal allowing him to bring home American troops, the war-torn country’s grand assembly, or Loya Jirga, on Sunday approved the release, a controversial condition raised by the Taliban militants to join peace talks.

“In order to remove an obstacle, allow the start of the peace process and an end of bloodshed, the Loya Jirga approves the release of 400 Taliban,” the assembly said in a resolution.

Minutes later, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said, “Today, I will sign the release order of these 400 prisoners.”

Last week Ghani invited some 3,200 Afghan community leaders and politicians to Kabul amid tight security and concerns about the COVID-19 pandemic to advise the government on whether the prisoners should be freed.

With the release, the Afghan government will fulfil its pledge to release 5,000 Taliban prisoners.

Talks between the warring Taliban and government will start in Doha this week, Western diplomats said. Ghani appealed to the hardline Islamist group to pledge to a complete ceasefire ahead of talks.

Ahead of the Loya Jirga, Human Rights Watch cautioned that many of the prisoners had been jailed under “overly broad terrorism laws that provide for indefinite preventive detention”.

Ahead of November U.S. elections, Trump is determined to fulfil a major campaign promise of ending America’s longest war.

More at: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-a...-idUSKCN25507I

[Swordsmyth]

Taliban spokesperson Suhail Shaheen said the insurgent group is reportedly ready to start direct peace negotiations with Kabul following the Afghan government’s decision to release the 400 remaining Taliban prisoners in its custody, Kashmir Monitor reported Aug. 12. ...

More at: https://worldview.stratfor.com/situa...isoner-release

[Swordsmyth]

In 2005, Taliban financier and Afghan drug lord Haji Bashir Noorzai flew from Dubai to New York City to strike a deal with American officials seeking peace with the Taliban. Or so he thought. It was a trap. DEA officials met him, and arrested him for his global heroin trafficking operations that had been funding the Taliban’s war machine for years. He was tried in the Southern District of New York and sentenced to life in U.S. federal prison.

That was then. Now, the Trump Administration is considering letting Noorzai out. Trying to make good on its Feb. 29 peace deal with the Taliban, the Administration is entertaining the militant group’s request to release Noorzai — and every last Taliban detainee in Guantanamo Bay — in order to get the former rulers of Afghanistan to sit down with the country’s current ruling elite for talks. When the Taliban’s co-founder Mullah Akhund Baradar asked Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for the prisoners’ release at the end of July, U.S. envoy to Afghanistan Amb. Zalmay Khalilzad quietly recommended setting Noorzai free, a senior administration official and a senior western official say, though it would mean putting one of the world’s top drug kingpins back on the street.

More at: https://news.yahoo.com/prisoners-pea...005208891.html

[enhanced_deficit]

Bringing troops home from the longest war in US history will certainly be great for America's interests and a setback for Forever Wars lobbies and profiteers. But to be devil's advo, if there are no US taxpayers funded troops in Afghanistan, how can Israel's major enemy Iran be surounded from both sides (Iraq and Afghanistan) to keep pressure on Iran and as contigency option for a future Iran war to defend our allies?

There were 8400 troops in Afghanistan at the start of current Prez term. Practically speaking and from the stand point of 'follow the money', won't it be better to leave most of the troops ( like 6000 or at least 5000) there and withdraw only a portion and claim political credit at election rallies that way? This would also avoid risk of funding cut off from top MAGA campaign donor who is a strong supporter of Israel First.

What say you starter of this thread?
As there were 8400 troops there in jan 2017, how many are there today just weeks before end of first term?

There are plenty future promises already posted in the multi page thread, no need to repeat promises.

[Swordsmyth]

The Afghan government released 80 of the remaining 400 Taliban prisoners Thursday, paving the way for long-stalled peace negotiations after nearly two decades of bitter and violent conflict in the country.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani got the go-ahead from the consultative assembly Loya Jirga, which sanctioned the release of prisoners in an effort to speed up talks in the war-torn nation.

Some of the prisoners have been implicated in devastating bombings in the capital Kabul. During a televised talk Thursday with the U.S.-based Council on Foreign Relations, Ghani warned of dangers they could present to lasting peace in Afghanistan.

Prisoner releases on both sides are part of an agreement signed in February between the U.S. and the Taliban. It called for the release of 5,000 Taliban held by the government and 1,000 government and military personnel held by the insurgent group as a goodwill gesture ahead of intra-Afghan negotiations.

More at: https://www.foxnews.com/world/afghan...l-forges-ahead

[Swordsmyth]

A Taliban political team arrived in Pakistan on Monday as efforts appear to be ramping up to get negotiations underway between the Afghan government and the insurgents.

The visit comes a day after the Taliban chief announced a powerful negotiating team that includes nearly half of the Taliban leadership council and has the power to set agendas, decide strategy and even sign agreements with the Kabul government. That Taliban team is headed by Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai.

U.S. troops have begun withdrawing and by November, fewer than 5,000 American soldiers are expected to still be in Afghanistan, down from 13,000 when the deal was signed.

The Taliban have held to their promise not to attack U.S. and NATO troops but have been staging near-daily attacks on Afghan government forces. They say a permanent cease-fire will be part of the negotiations once they begin.

More at: https://news.yahoo.com/taliban-polit...083142644.html

[Swordsmyth]

Afghanistan's president has appointed a council for national reconciliation, which will have final say on whether the government will sign a peace deal with the Taliban after what are expected to be protracted and uncertain negotiations with the insurgents.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani issued a decree late Saturday establishing the 46-member council, led by his former rival in last year’s presidential election, Abdullah Abdullah, who is now in the government.

The council is separate from a 21-member negotiating team, which Ghani appointed in March and which is expected to travel to the Gulf Arab state of Qatar, where the Taliban maintain a political office, for intra-Afghan talks.

The council will have the final say and will ultimately decide on the points that the negotiating team takes up with the Taliban.

Abdullah's appointment to head the reconciliation efforts followed a power-sharing deal he signed in May with Ghani to end the political deadlock after last year's election — a vote in which Abdullah had also declared himself a winner.

The High Council for National Reconciliation is made up of an array of Afghan political figures, including current and former officials, and nine women representatives, one of whom was named Abdullah’s deputy. Ghani also appointed former President Hamid Karzai to the council but his predecessor rejected the appointment in a statement Sunday, saying he declines to be part of any government structure.

Also on the council are mujahedeen and jihadi leaders who fought against the Soviet Union in the 1980s but who were also involved in a Afghanistan’s brutal civil war that followed their takeover in 1992 that left 50,000, mostly civilians, dead in Kabul. Among them is Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, who signed a peace deal with Ghani in 2016 but previously was declared a terrorist by the U.S.

The council also includes Abdur Rasool Sayyaf, who was the inspiration for the Philippine terrorist group Abu Sayyaf. During the 1992-1996 civil war, Sayyaf’s fighters killed thousands of minority Shiite Muslims led by a rival warlord.

More at: https://news.yahoo.com/afghan-presid...084128088.html

[devil21]

The Taliban have held to their promise not to attack U.S. and NATO troops but have been staging near-daily attacks on Afghan government forces. They say a permanent cease-fire will be part of the negotiations once they begin.

[Swordsmyth]

I know how much it displeases you to be reminded that Trump is bringing the troops home and ending the wars.

[devil21]

I know how much it displeases you to be reminded that Trump is bringing the troops home and ending the wars.

LOL, that's gotta be it. Can't be that you've been posting basically the same exact article for months. "Soooooooooon"

[Todd]

I know how much it displeases you to be reminded that Trump is bringing the troops home and ending the wars.

Yeah cause we all joined this site a decade ago cause we wanted more war and intervention. Do you really think that if Trump were doing anything close to bringing and end to US intervention we wouldn't support that.

[Swordsmyth]

LOL, that's gotta be it. Can't be that you've been posting basically the same exact article for months. "Soooooooooon"

Proving you don't even read the posts here.

[Swordsmyth]

Afghanistan has resumed the controversial release of hundreds of Taliban prisoners.

A Taliban official told the AFP news agency that 200 prisoners had been freed by the Afghan authorities since Monday, while the Taliban reportedly released four Afghan commandos.

The release of Taliban inmates has been a pre-condition to negotiations to end 19 years of conflict in the country.

Peace talks are expected to start in Qatar within days of the full release.

An unnamed senior Afghan official told AFP that "dozens" of prisoners had been released on Monday, with the remaining prisoners due to follow suit "within a couple of days".

Former Afghan President Hamid Karzai praised the resumption of the prisoner release, which he described as a "positive step towards peace in Afghanistan".

More at: https://news.yahoo.com/afghanistan-r...010804250.html

[Swordsmyth]

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said Wednesday that the government had met all of its commitments for peace talks with the Taliban, as a team left for Qatar to prepare for negotiations.

Ghani's remarks came after Kabul broke an impasse with the insurgent group on Monday by resuming a protracted prisoner exchange, a key hurdle to long-delayed negotiations between the two sides opening in Doha.

"The government has fulfilled all its commitments in the peace process that the international community had hoped for," Ghani told a team of government-backed negotiators at a meeting at the presidential palace, his office said.

"The release of Taliban prisoners is a clear demonstration of the government's commitment to peace."

Kabul has sent a "small technical team" to Doha to make logistical preparations, Najia Anwari, spokeswoman for the State Ministry for Peace Affairs told AFP.

Anwari said that Kabul's negotiators will also leave for Doha "very soon".

More at: https://news.yahoo.com/afghan-presid...121151264.html

[Swordsmyth]

The U.S. military is reducing troops in Afghanistan from 8,600 to about 4,500 by early November, the head of U.S Central Command said Wednesday, hours after he announced the withdrawal of more service members from Iraq this month.  

More at: https://www.voanews.com/usa/centcom-...ghanistan-4500

[phill4paul]

The U.S. military is reducing troops in Afghanistan from 8,600 to about 4,500 by early November, the head of U.S Central Command said Wednesday, hours after he announced the withdrawal of more service members from Iraq this month.  

More at: https://www.voanews.com/usa/centcom-...ghanistan-4500

So he is cutting troops by half in BOTH Iraq and Afghanistan.

I'm sure RPF's favorite negative Nancies will be along any minute to tell us why this is such a terrible thing.

[Swordsmyth]

So he is cutting troops by half in BOTH Iraq and Afghanistan.

I'm sure RPF's favorite negative Nancies will be along any minute to tell us why this is such a terrible thing.

He has said we will be leaving entirely from BOTH.
And if we leave Iraq we will have to leave Syria.

[Swordsmyth]

A US negotiator on Friday voiced understanding for Afghanistan's transfer of Taliban prisoners who killed citizens of France and Australia, saying the "big picture" was to end the war.

France and Australia both opposed the prisoners' release, which has been pushed by US President Donald Trump's administration as the Taliban made the freedom of hundreds of fighters a condition to meet with Afghanistan's government.

After Kabul overcame hesitation and released the militants, the two sides will open landmark talks in Doha on Saturday in the presence of US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

"I know that none of us are happy about the release of prisoners that committed violence against forces but we want to keep the big picture in mind," said Zalmay Khalilzad, the US negotiator on Afghanistan.

The start of the talks can ensure that Afghanistan "never again becomes a threat to any of us," he told reporters.

"None of the countries that are concerned have made this an issue that will affect relations with Afghanistan," he said.

"They don't like it but at the same time they understand that this was an Afghan decision -- a decision that was difficult but necessary, they felt, at the end to start intra-Afghan negotiations and to give peace a chance."

Khalilzad also indicated that the United States could soon remove some Taliban from its terrorism blacklist.

He said that the US-Taliban agreement set the start of intra-Afghan talks as a condition to start reconsidering sanctions.

"We are committed to the terms of the agreement," he said.

Two Taliban prisoners who murdered Frenchwoman Bettina Goislard, a UN refugee worker, were released in the province of Wardak.

Six other militants including two who killed French and Australian soldiers were transferred on a special plane to Doha where it is unclear what will happen to them.

More at: https://www.yahoo.com/news/us-backs-...155255001.html

[Swordsmyth]

As reported by Breitbart News, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told reporters on his way to attend peace talks with the Taliban and the Afghan government in Doha, Qatar that “if the Taliban follow through on their word, the United States is committed to removing all American forces from Afghanistan once and for all.”

The United States welcomes the announcement that Afghanistan peace negotiations will begin September 12. This is an historic moment and Afghanistan’s best chance at ending forty years of war and bloodshed.
— Secretary Pompeo (@SecPompeo) September 10, 2020

“Our commitment to reducing our forces to zero is conditioned on them executing their obligations under the agreement,” Pompeo said. “We’ve been very clear about their responsibilities with respect to the terrorist activity taking place in Afghanistan that is plotting external operations. It’s very clear that the violence levels have to come down to acceptable levels. We saw just yesterday or the day before there are a lot of spoilers out there. There are people who don’t want this to go forward. They want America mired in this place. They don’t want peace in Afghanistan. Most of the Afghanistan people want that. We’re going to stay focused on it.

More at: https://saraacarter.com/pompeo-time-...orces-to-zero/

[Swordsmyth]

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told Breitbart News exclusively — after meetings between Afghan government officials and Taliban leaders as part of the beginning of intra-Afghan peace negotiations — that the process is moving along on pace for a full withdrawal of all U.S. forces from Afghanistan by the spring of 2021.

More at: https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2...s-afghanistan/

[Brian4Liberty]

https://twitter.com/RepThomasMassie/...36546082648065

[Swordsmyth]

With the Pentagon expected to reduce troops levels in Afghanistan down to 4,500 by the November elections, and with the still negotiated US-Taliban peace deal facilitating this, on Tuesday a Pentagon official told Congress it can expect American presence there to be completely ended by May 2021.

More at: https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitic...ithdraw-spring

[Todd]

Guess where more troops are slated to go in 2021? Yep .....moving from Afghanistan to another region in the ME.

Shuffling $#@! around the theatre isn't bringing the troops home.

[RJ Liberty]

I would love it if Trump finally withdrew the troops. But as Libertarian Institute author Christian Britschgi pointed out last month:

The Journal reports that the departure of some 1,700 troops from Iraq will occur over the next few months. Once gone, America's military presence in that country will be where it was in 2015.


Under Trump, America's troop commitment to our various foreign wars has oscillated; first surging then tapering off.
PolitiFact notes that when Trump came into office there were around 8,500 troops in Afghanistan. The president increased our military presence up to 14,000 personnel but has since drawn it back down to where it was at the beginning of Trump's term. That number is supposed to fall to 4,000 in November.


Under Trump, the Defense Department has stopped publishing troop numbers in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Syria, making it difficult to get an accurate count of how much military personnel is in those countries. The Washington Post reported in July that the number of U.S. troops stationed abroad has slightly increased under Trump.


Outside of troop levels, Trump has amped up the drone war and vetoed a resolution to end U.S. participation in the war in Yemen. He has also escalated tensions with Iran by tearing up the 2015 nuclear deal signed under the Obama administration, reapplying sanctions, and deploying additional aircraft and ships to the region in response to alleged Iranian drone attacks on Saudi oil facilities.


In January, the Trump administration assassinated Iranian general Qassem Soleimani, provoking an Iranian missile counterattack on U.S. military bases in the country.

WTF are we doing in Yemen and deploying aircraft to Iran? WTF are we doing provoking counterattacks?

(I know, I know. TReason.)