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Germany: NATO has difficulty when the US withdraws its troops from Afghanistan

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The statement was made by German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas after US President Joe Biden decided to withdraw his troops from Afghanistan before 9/11/2021.

According to Reuters, Mr. Biden decided to withdraw his troops from Afghanistan before 9/11/2021, exactly 20 years after the terrorist attack by Al-Qaeda sparked the prolonged war of the US and its NATO ally in the country. This southwest Asia.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin officially announced the decision to allies in the NATO bloc in Brussels during the meeting on April 14.

“After careful policy review, President Biden decided to withdraw the remaining number of troops in Afghanistan and eventually end the US war after 20 years,” said a State Department official.

US forces in Afghanistan.

Thus, this new decision shows that the previous withdrawal plan (May 1), which was signed by the administration of former President Donald Trump with the Taliban, could not be implemented. In response, a Taliban spokesman warned there would be consequences if the United States did not comply with the said deadline.

The Taliban are said to have been largely in compliance with their promise not to attack troops from the United States and other countries since the deal was signed, but stressed that things will change as the US pulls back from 9/11.

The Afghan peace process has already fallen to a standstill as peace talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban forces in the Qatar capital, Doha, stalled.

The US advocates to promote peace negotiations between the governments of Afghanistan and the Taliban before the last 2,500 troops of the country’s army must leave Afghanistan.

Washington wants the Afghan and Taliban governments to strike some power-sharing arrangements. Recently, the Taliban rejected the proposal of Afghan President Ashraf Ghani to hold elections this year.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said the process had pushed the nation on the brink of crisis. Any decisions regarding Afghanistan’s future need to be reached in bilateral negotiations.

Assessing the decision to withdraw all US forces from Afghanistan on September 11, experts said that this decision will put NATO in a difficult position.

When the US administration under President Trump decided to withdraw troops from Afghanistan by May 1 deadline, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg warned that Afghanistan was in danger of becoming a defeated IS base. Syria and Iraq.

Although admitting that NATO has been fighting in Afghanistan for too long, Stoltenberg said that it is not time to leave, while the withdrawal needs the coordination of the parties. American forces make up a small number of NATO troops in Afghanistan, but the alliance is heavily dependent on the United States for air transport, logistics and support.

The US withdrawal also raises questions about the possibility of the remaining countries pulling out. NATO began operating there in 2003, two years after the US-led coalition came to deal with the Taliban following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

But it is hard to say that NATO has fulfilled its original goal of “ensuring that it will never be a safe haven for international terrorists”. In the future, the continued stay of NATO will also face many difficulties, while withdrawal is undesirable by many parties, when the goal is not reached and the risk of terrorism will become even more haunted.

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas has rejected the withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghanistan before ending talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban. Maas also criticized the early US unilateral withdrawal of troops from the South Asian country that could jeopardize peace negotiations.

Considering that peace negotiations are very complicated and cannot be ended as scheduled, Minister Heiko Maas stated: “If the US withdraws its forces while other NATO allies cannot take over security in in the short term, the situation will become extremely volatile. “