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.
Would casualties push the US to leave, or would they be the excuse hawks need to stay? That is the only question facing the Taliban.
A no brainer. We stay.
Tough call to make. Maybe some counter offer of fatalies. Perhaps up to 10 the first week week or month, 15 or 20 the second 30 or40 the third and so on. How many Afghans have been killed by the invaders since February 2020? Maybe 2 invaders for every Afghan???
If these guys have learned anything at all, they’ll cool their donkeys not to give the armchair generals any excuse.