Taliban Says It’s ‘Too Early’ to Know if They Will Start Attacking the US

Since the US-Taliban peace deal was signed in February 2020, no US troops have died in combat in Afghanistan

The Taliban said on Thursday it was “too early” to say if the group will start attacking US and NATO forces again. Since President Biden broke the US-Taliban peace deal by pushing back the May 1st withdrawal deadline, the Taliban has warned of “consequences” and hinted that attacks could start up again.

“It’s too early for these issues, nothing can be said about the future,” Taliban spokesman Mohammad Naeem told The Associated Press when asked if the group plans to attack withdrawing US and NATO forces.

February 8th marked the first full year that no US troops died in combat in Afghanistan since the war started. By pushing back the withdrawal date, Biden did little but risk US casualties.

President Biden said he plans to have all troops out of Afghanistan by September 11th, although questions remain about the presence of Pentagon contractors and special operations forces. NATO said it will start withdrawing on May 1st, and Germany said on Wednesday that an earlier withdrawal date of July 4th was being considered.

Pentagon officials told The Associated Press that the US has begun shipping some equipment out of Afghanistan to prepare for the withdrawal. The officials said the equipment that isn’t shipped out will be given to the Afghan military or sold to contractors, which then could end up at local markets.

Author: Dave DeCamp

Dave DeCamp is the news editor of Antiwar.com, follow him on Twitter @decampdave.