PRESIDENT Donald Trump has announced that his country would draw down troops in Afghanistan roughly half before November presidential election. In an interview, he indicated that probably 4,000 to 5,000 troops would remain in Afghanistan by that time. Pakistan’s special envoy for Afghanistan Muhammad Sadiq has welcomed the announcement describing it as a positive movement.
As a consequence of a deal between the United States and Taliban, signed in February 2020, the size of the US troops in Afghanistan has been brought down to 8,600. Bringing troops down to 4,000 would put US troop levels in Afghanistan at their lowest point since the early days of the 19-year-old war but the development would fell short of the commitment made by President Trump repeatedly to pull all troops from Afghanistan. A genuine pull out would have brought an end to the unfortunate impression of occupation of the country by foreign troops, which is main cause of conflict in Afghanistan today. However, the announcement would surely help create conducive atmosphere for meaningful and result-oriented intra-Afghan dialogue that are crucial to lasting peace and security in the war-torn country. We hope that overt or covert conditions would not be attached to the process of draw down of troops and remaining troops would not engage in combat operations. The plans to maintain military bases and play the role of ‘policeman’ for Afghanistan and the region should be discarded as these would pose a serious threat to the prospects of durable peace and stability.
