4/13/21
President Joe Biden has directed that all remaining U.S. forces be withdrawn from Afghanistan by September, which would end America’s longest war 20 years after it started. NATO troops will also depart, a senior administration official told reporters on a briefing call Tuesday. “After a rigorous policy review, President Biden has decided to draw down the remaining troops from Afghanistan and finally end the U.S. war there after 20 years,” the senior administration official said. “We will begin an orderly drawdown of the remaining forces before May 1 and plan to have all U.S. troops out of the country before the 20th anniversary of 9/11. ”The senior administration official also said all NATO troops will depart, an announcement that came one day before Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin was set to meet with NATO allies in Brussels. “We have discussed the drawdown with our NATO allies and operational partners,” the administration official said. “We will remain in lockstep with them as we undergo this operation. We went in together, adjusted together, and now we will prepare to leave together.”
Biden was expected to make a formal announcement of his decision on Wednesday, spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters at the White House press briefing Tuesday. The administration plans to leave “sufficient” forces in the region to conduct counterterrorism missions and check the Taliban but those decisions have not been finalized. The official said Pentagon officials would announce those moves, but did not expect a decision within the next few days. For the last several months, the administration has faced questions about whether it would abide by the May 1 withdrawal date set by former President Donald Trump. The decision was welcomed by veterans groups on both sides of the political spectrum, who often advocated together for an end to the military’s presence in Afghanistan.
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