The United States won’t withdraw troops from Afghanistan without consulting allies, according to acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan.
“There will be no unilateral troop reductions,” Shanahan told reporters Thursday in Brussels after meeting with NATO defense chiefs. “That was one of the messages: It will be coordinated. We’re together.”
Last month, the United States and the Taliban agreed on a draft framework detailing a possible withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan, an issue that has been a top priority for the Taliban. But Shanahan, who arrived in Brussels Tuesday after visiting Iraq and Afghanistan, clarified that NATO would be involved in any U.S. troop reduction or withdrawal.
“What we talked about was how do we double down on support for Afghan national defense and security forces to put even more pressure on the Taliban,” Shanahan said.
So far, no instructions to plan a troop withdrawal or reduction have been sent to U.S. Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti, the head of U.S. European Command and the supreme allied commander of the NATO alliance.
“I don’t have the direction to do it, or the guidance to do it, or the decision to drive it,” Scaparrotti told reporters.
U.S. Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad is slated to meet with Taliban representatives later this month, continuing talks from January in Doha, Qatar.
Last week, Khalilzad said the United States is working to secure a peace agreement in Afghanistan — where approximately 14,000 U.S. troops are stationed — before the country’s presidential elections in July. However, the Afghan government has been excluded from the discussions because the Taliban has resisted negotiating with them.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg emphasized Thursday that the Afghan government must participate in the discussions and cautioned permanent peace couldn’t exist without its involvement.
“I think it is very important that the Afghan government as soon as possible becomes fully integrated into the peace process,” Stoltenberg said. “We need the Afghan government playing a key role, because without that, there will be no lasting peace.”
