PESHAWAR, Pakistan — News that the White House had ordered the Pentagon to draw up plans for a troop withdrawal from Afghanistan provoked widespread criticism that the move would kneecap efforts to broker a peace deal to end America's longest war. But there was one group on Friday celebrating the reports — the Taliban. Senior members told NBC News the news was a clear indication they were on the verge of victory. “The 17-year-long struggle and sacrifices of thousands of our people finally yielded fruit," said a senior Taliban commander from Afghanistan’s Helmand province. "We proved it to the entire world that we defeated the self-proclaimed world’s lone superpower." “We are close to our destination," added the commander, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the group's leadership had prohibited members from talking to the media about current events. He added that all field commanders had also been told to intensify training efforts to capture four strategic provinces in the run up to the next round of talks between the U.S. and Taliban, which are expected in January. A Taliban leader in eastern Kunar province, Maulvi Sher Mohammad, said news of withdrawals should serve as a lesson to Americans. “The U.S. people and particularly its rulers should think about what they achieved by invading Afghanistan and by causing so many losses to the citizens of Afghanistan and wasting their own resources on this long war,” he said.
The news shocked and confused NATO allies and the Afghan government, at a moment when the United States is engaged in a major diplomatic push to try to launch peace negotiations. “The abruptness of this I think really hurts our credibility,” former senior Defense Department official Jason Campbell said. For U.S. special envoy for peace in Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad, the move deprives him of his most effective point of leverage before negotiations even have begun in earnest experts and former officials said. “It will have a devastating effect on peace negotiations,” said Seth Jones, a former adviser to the U.S. military now at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank. “The challenge now the U.S. faces is how is it going to get the Taliban to reach an agreement if they can wait and expect a better outcome in the future if the U.S. continues to withdraw its forces?”