Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin met with NATO ministers on Thursday and discussed the war in Afghanistan and the approaching May 1st deadline for all foreign forces to leave as per the US-Taliban peace deal. While no decisions were made on the pullout, Austin assured his NATO counterparts that there will be no “hasty” end to the almost 20-year-old war.
According to a statement from the Pentagon, Austin “reassured Allies that the US would not undertake a hasty or disorderly withdrawal from Afghanistan.” He also reiterated that the Biden administration is conducting a “thorough review” of the US-Taliban agreement.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said after the meeting that no decision was made on whether or not the alliance is planning to leave before May. While NATO and the US claim the Taliban hasn’t lived up to its end of the agreement, one pledge the Taliban did stick with was not attacking the US or other coalition forces in Afghanistan.
February 8th marked the first full year since the war started that no US soldiers died in combat in Afghanistan. Stoltenberg recognized that if foreign troops remain after May 1st, they will likely be targeted again by the Taliban. “If we stay beyond the first of May, we risk more violence, more attacks against our own troops,” he said.
Stoltenberg also announced on Thursday an increase of NATO troops in Iraq from 500 to about 4,000, which the US seems happy about. “Secretary Austin welcomed the expanded role for NATO Mission Iraq,” the Pentagon said.
SecDef Austin has a funny idea of what “hasty” means.
USA will never leave,,if only Trump did what he said he was going to do! After China kicks the USA azz in a regional war then the troops will come home,,and purge the DC Ghouls.
Imagine if the people at his rallies were led in chanting “Bring Them Home” instead of “Lock Her Up”.
Gen. Austin, THE GUY,
who sold McCain on “arming the Syrian moderates”.
Four of them. Okay, maybe five.
. . .from the Guardian, Sep 16, 2015:
US has trained only ‘four or five’ Syrian fighters against Isis, top general testifies
Senators appear incredulous and call for a new plan after hearing news that US military’s $500m effort has resulted in training of only a handful of fighters
A $500m effort to train Syrian forces against the Islamic State has resulted in only a handful of fighters actively battling the jihadi army, the top military commander overseeing the war has testified.
“We’re talking four or five,” General Lloyd Austin, commander of US Central Command, told a dissatisfied Senate armed services committee on Wednesday.
The training initiative is Barack Obama’s linchpin for retaking Syrian territory from Isis. The Pentagon anticipated in late 2014 that it would have trained 5,000 anti-Isis Syrian rebels by now.. .here
That’s just the “training” Don,
the ARMING is where the problem began.
“Training” was the smoke screen for the ARMING.
If Lloyd Austin were around during The Mexican War, he’d be the only Black American exempt from its racist laws and Austin Texas would be named after him.
Good morning.Enjoy the New dan and wonderful weekend from Canada. The best.