Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mark Milley predicted more violence in Afghanistan, while Defense Secretary Mark Esper said the road to peace would not be easy, both speaking at the Pentagon a little over a day after the United States signed a peace deal with the Taliban.
“This is going to be a long, windy, bumpy road, there will be ups and downs, and we’ll stop and start,” Esper said while standing alongside Milley on Monday morning.
“It’s going to be a constant engagement,” Esper said of the peace agreement signed in Doha, Qatar, with the Taliban that requires the U.S. to reduce its footprint to 8,600 troops within 135 days and a full troop withdrawal by 2021.
“It’s all conditions-based,” Esper underscored. “We are going to show good faith and begin withdrawing our troops, and we can stop that at any moment. We can pause it based on, again, changing circumstances.”
Esper confirmed the U.S. troop withdrawal must begin within 10 days.
“I fully support the agreement that we signed over the weekend,” said Milley, a veteran of multiple Afghanistan tours, who was present in Doha alongside Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for the signing of the agreement with the Taliban Saturday.
“A negotiated political settlement is the only responsible way to end the war in Afghanistan,” Milley said.
The question of whether violence will really subside was confused by counter statements from the Taliban over the weekend and a theoretical discussion at the Pentagon about attribution.
“The reduction in violence … has ended now and our operations will continue as normal,” Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told the Agence France Press following the end of the seven-day reduction in violence agreement that expired at midnight Saturday in Afghanistan.
A motorcycle bomb today reportedly killed three, an attack Milley acknowledged but could not attribute today.
The Taliban has long maintained a policy of fighting while negotiating, and its talks with the Afghan government are scheduled to begin March 10.
“I would caution everybody to think that there’s going to be an absolute cessation of violence in Afghanistan,” said Milley. “That is probably not going to happen. It’s probably not going to go to zero.”
The civilian and military defense leaders focused instead on the U.S. goal of preventing Afghanistan from serving as a safe haven for terrorist attacks against the U.S.
To that effect, Milley said counterterrorism operations would continue.
“We’ll maintain whatever capability is necessary to defend the United States against terrorists,” he said.
Esper said that despite the Taliban’s comments about maintaining offensive operations, he expected reduced violence.
“Our expectation is that a reduced level of violence would occur, and it would decrease over time as we move forward,” he said.
Esper dismissed questions that asserted the peace process is already breaking down after Afghan President Ashraf Ghani indicated that he will refuse to release prisoners as specified in the agreement.
The secretary of defense added that there are multiple terrorist organizations operating in the area, and said that part of the daily evaluation of the peace deal will be confirming when an attack occurs and attributing who is responsible.
For now, Esper said NATO Resolute Support Mission commander U.S. Army Gen. Austin “Scott” Miller has been given the green light to begin drawing down troops from an estimated 13,000.
“What we’ll do is we’ll go to 8,600, and we’re going to stop,” Esper said. “We’ll assess the situation, not just tactically on the ground but also are all the parties living up to their obligations.”
[Opinion: Trump, ignore Taliban peace deal haters]
