US reaches agreed troop-cut target of 8,600 – Afghanistan

The United States has reduced its troops level to 8,600 in Afghanistan, fulfilling its obligation as part of the US-Taliban agreement, General Kenneth McKenzie, the head of US Central Command, said Thursday.

“What I would tell you now is we have met our part of the agreement…We agreed to go to the mid-8,000 range within 135 days…We are at that number now, ” said McKenzie in an event hosted by the Aspen Institute think tank on June 18.

The US and the Taliban signed an agreement for bringing peace in Afghanistan on February 29 in Qatar.

Under the deal, the US agreed to reduce its troops in Afghanistan from 12,000 troops to 8,600 by mid-July. In exchange, the group pledged to cut ties with terrorist groups like Al-Qaida.

McKenzie said that the Taliban is no longer friend with the ISIS/Daesh, “What we need to see is what they’re going to do against al-Qaeda. And we need to see that in deeds and not words.” 

This top US General said that the withdrawal of the full forces is “conditional” and would happen only if the Taliban fulfill its commitment.

“Conditions would have to be met that satisfy us that attacks against our homeland are not going to be generated from Afghanistan,” he said.

It comes as the NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Thursday that the Taliban has to live up to their commitments in the agreement they made with the United States.

Addressing a teleconference following the meetings of NATO Defence Ministers, Stoltenberg added, “I am absolutely certain that the only way to reach a political, sustainable, peaceful solution to the conflict in Afghanistan is to have an Afghan-led and Afghan-owned process. Therefore, intra-Afghan negotiations are so important.” 

“NATO Allies support the peace efforts, and we are closer to real intra-Afghan negotiations now than I think we have ever been before,” he noted.