U.S President Joe Biden is withdrawing all US troops from Afghanistan before this year’s 20th anniversary of the September 11 attacks, signaling an end to America’s longest war.
The Biden official said the withdrawal would begin in May and that the delay was largely logistical, with troops possibly out of Afghanistan well before September 11.
The decision came as Turkey announced an international peace conference on Afghanistan to try and brings stability to a nation battered by nearly 40 years of war.
Turkish foreign ministry said in a statement the conference, scheduled to hold from April 24-May 4 hopes to establish a roadmap to a future political settlement and an end to the conflict.
But Mohammad Naeem, spokesman for the Taliban office in Qatar, said the insurgents will not participate in any conference on Afghanistan’s future until all foreign forces completely withdraw from our homeland.
Analyst proect that the Taliban think they have already effectively won and can wait out the US withdrawal, as little progress has come out of on-off talks in Qatar.
The move will cause a 5-month delay to a previous agreement with the Taliban and former president Donald Trump to pull troops, amid a growing consensus in Washington that little more can be achieved.
Under the Trump administration’s February 2020 deal with the Taliban, all US troops would leave by May 2021 in return for the insurgents’ promise not to back Al-Qaeda and other foreign extremists.
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