The newly proposed peace plan suggests cutting the US contingent in half immediately and withdrawing the remaining forces in three to five years.
The US would withdraw all its troops from Afghanistan in three to five years, under a new peace plan proposed during the talks between US officials and the Taliban.
Under the peace plan, the US will reduce its military presence by half from 14,000 to 7,000 in the coming months, a report by The New York Times says. The remaining 7,000 troops will withdraw together with the remaining 8,600 European and international troops within three to five years.
Until then, US forces will refrain from training the Afghan military, delegating this task to the Europeans, while focusing primarily on counterterrorism operations against al-Qaeda and Daesh remnants in the country.
“The Europeans are perfectly capable of conducting the training mission,” James Stavridis, a retired American admiral and former top NATO commander, told reporters. “It is a smart division of labor to have the United States shift the bulk of its effort toward the special forces mission and having the Europeans do the training mission.”
The plan has reportedly been well received in both the Pentagon and the NATO HQ in Brussels. However, US officials close to the talks warned journalists that due to his erratic nature, US President Donald Trump may cancel the plan at any moment.
Speaking of the president's erratic nature, the US withdrawal…
