Advisors from the 2nd Security Force Assistance Brigade conducting advising during their 2019 deployment to Afghanistan. (Photo: U.S. Army)
By Gary Raynaldo DIPLOMATIC TIMES
WASHINGTON – PENTAGON – President Biden has decided to draw down the remaining U.S. troops from Afghanistan and finally end the U.S. war there after 20 years. All U.S. soldiers are set to depart before September 11. Now, the Pentagon is putting extremist groups like ISIS, al-Qaida, and the Taliban on notice that any terrorist Attack on U.S. military drawdown in Afghanistan Will Be Met “Forcefully”. The U.S. is well aware of Taliban threats in particular to the U.S. military drawdown, which are scheduled to begin May 1 and be completed by Sept. 11, 2021, Pentagon Press Secretary John F. Kirby said during a press conference at the Pentagon.
“We’ve seen their threats, and it would be imprudent for us not to take those threats seriously. It would also be imprudent for the Taliban to not take seriously what [President Joe Biden and Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III] both made clear: Any attack on our drawdown, on our forces or our allies and partners, … will be met very forcefully.”
-Pentagon Press Secretary John F. Kirby
(Photo credit: Gary Raynaldo ©Diplomatic Times) Pentagon Press Secretary John F. Kirby briefs reporters at Pentagon headquarters in Washington D.C. April 19, 2021.
The drawdown will bring home the 3,500 troops stationed in Afghanistan. According to Kirby, the U.S. is working on its future bilateral security relationship with Afghanistan, but it’s expected to be similar to the bilateral military relationship it has with other countries. “It will not include a U.S. military footprint on the ground in Afghanistan, with the exception of what’s going to be required to support the diplomatic mission there,” he said.
Kirby added that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said the Department of Defense will maintain counterterrorism capabilities to continue “to prevent Afghanistan from becoming a launching pad for terrorist attacks on our homeland” – adding that the United States has a vast range of capabilities available from the U.S. Central Command.
While the 3,500 troops currently in Afghanistan will leave that country by the end of the summer, some will remain in the region, Marine Corps Gen. Kenneth McKenzie Jr. said during a hearing on Tuesday before the House Armed Services Committee.
“I think some of the forces are going to remain in Central Command, because we are going to look at offshore, over-the-horizon options,” Gen. McKenzie said. At the moment, McKenzie said, he’s figuring out how the U.S. will be able to conduct counter-terrorism activities in the area without being in Afghanistan.
“I’m actually conducting detailed planning, by the direction of the secretary, to look at those options right now. I will report back to him by the end of the month with some alternatives,” he said.
McKenzie said, if a crisis arises in Afghanistan and the U.S. needs to go back in, three things will need to happen that the U.S. can still do — though with more difficulty than it can do right now.
“You need to find the target, you need to fix the target and you need to be able to finish the target. So those three things all firstly require heavy intelligence support. And if you’re out of the country and you don’t have the ecosystem that we have there now, it will be harder to do that. It is not impossible to do that. It will just be harder to do it.”
-Marine Corps Gen. Kenneth McKenzie Jr.
When forces do leave Afghanistan, McKenzie said, there’s the risk that there could be attacks at that time. He said he’s confident, however, that while such a redeployment is complex, U.S. forces will be safe.
