In a series of tweets on Saturday, U.S. Secretary of State Pompeo said no American service members suffered death in Afghanistan in almost a year, backing U.S. President Donald Trump’s plan of returning soldiers back to their home.
The U.S. mission in Afghanistan was to eliminate al-Qaeda and threats to America, he tweeted. “Don’t need 10s of 1,000s of U.S. troops on the ground to do that. We have partners: brave Afghans, @NATO forces.”
“We also have the ability to project power from afar,” Mr. Pompeo added.
The United States singed a historic troops withdrawal agreement with the Taliban on late February last year which was intended to set the stage for an end to America’s decades-long war in Afghanistan.
The landmark deal also paved the ground for the intra-Afghan negotiations—the first direct official talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban—which opened on September 12.
The Trump administration earlier announced it will downsize the number of its forces in Afghanistan from nearly 4,500 to 2,500 in mid-January, just before the outgoing President leaves office.
Secretary Pompeo backed President Trump’s plan of withdrawal from Afghanistan, adding “every administration since Bush 43 wanted to draw down U.S. troops and forge peace talks between the Taliban and the Afghan government,” and “we did it.”
The Secretary’s remarks on peace talks and troops drawdown come as country gripped with decades-long war is still witnessing high levels of violence amid peace efforts of the negotiators from the government and the Taliban.
Following a three-week break, peace negotiators are set to resume the talks on Tuesday this week. The talks were paused to seek consultations.
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