U.S. general: Troops in Afghanistan cut to agreed level

The United States has reduced its troops level to 8,600 in Afghanistan, fulfilling its first phased pullout obligation under the U.S.-Taliban deal, General Kenneth McKenzie, the head of U.S. Central Command, said on Thursday.

"What I would tell you now is we have met our part of the agreement," he told a panel discussion hosted by the Aspen Institute think tank.

"We agreed to go to the mid-8,000 range within 135 days," McKenzie said. "We're at that number now."

According to the agreement signed late February between the U.S. and the Taliban, the U.S. would reduce its forces in Afghanistan to 8,600 within 135 days, which is mid-July.

Acting U.S. Defense Secretary Pat Shanahan (L) arrives to consult with Army General Scott Miller (R), commander of U.S. and coalition forces, and senior Afghan government leaders, in Kabul, Afghanistan, February 11, 2019. /AP

The agreement also called for the full withdrawal of the U.S. military from the country by May 2021 if the Taliban meets the conditions of the deal, including severing ties with terrorist groups.

McKenzie called the full withdrawal an "aspirational" commitment, but also conditional: "conditions would have to be met that satisfy us that attacks against our homeland are not going to be generated from Afghanistan," he said.

"We all know already that [the Taliban] are no friends of ISIS (ISIL)," McKenzie said. "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."

Reports are saying that the U.S. administration is looking at a range of options to withdraw all its troops from Afghanistan at an early date, with one possible option targeting this November, when the presidential election is scheduled.

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to cadets in the Class of 2020 at a commencement ceremony at the United States Military Academy in West Point, New York, June 13, 2020. /AP

While denying setting a target date, President Donald Trump said last month that he expected a full withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan "as soon as reasonable."

Trump reaffirmed this notion during his remarks to graduates of the United States Military Academy over the weekend. "We are ending the era of endless wars ... we are not the policemen of the world," he said.

The war in Afghanistan is the longest one in U.S. history. The death toll of U.S. service members in Afghanistan has surpassed 2,400 since the invastion began in 2001.

(With input from Xinhua, AFP)

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