April 28 (The Killid Group) − President of the United States Donald Trump told his military and national security advisers that he wants to withdraw all his troops from the war-devastated Afghanistan due to concerns over a coronavirus outbreak in the country, NBC news reported quoting U.S. senior officials.
NBC News agency quoted two current and a former senior U.S. officials saying that U.S. President Trump complains almost daily that U.S. forces are still in a war-ravaged country and are now vulnerable to the COVID-19 pandemic.
His push to the withdrawal of all U.S. troops has been due to his concern that the coronavirus threatens lives of thousands of U.S. troops in Afghanistan, said officials adding, the halting progress of the U.S. peace deal signed with the Taliban has also made him impatient.
U.S. officials also said the president’s military advisers have told him if the United States pulls its troops out of Afghanistan because of the COVID-19, by that standard, the Pentagon should also withdraw forces from other badly coronavirus affected places like Italy.
“There is concern from a variety of places that we could leave Afghanistan,” a senior U.S. official told the news agency.
As of Monday, the Afghan Ministry of Public Health reported 1,703 cases of the coronavirus and 57 total fatalities which are believed to be underreported and that there could be as many as 10 times as many cases.
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