US officials have confirmed that the US is just days away from completing its withdrawal from Afghanistan, amid increasing Taliban battlefield gains. HOwever, some US forces are expected to stay and protect the US embassy and Kabul airport. The announcement comes as a top US commander warned that Afghanistan’s government could collapse just months after the last US troops exit the country. US officials stated that this week might be critical to the withdrawal and end of the retrograde process and the US grapples with concerns over a civil war in Afghanistan and a resurgence of the Taliban without US troops present.
The September 11 deadline for troop withdrawal is still months away, however, previous reports suggest that most of the 4,000 troops were expected to be out by mid-July, well ahead of the timeline. The pace of the pull-out has now appeared to have occurred at a much faster rate than expected. General Scott Miller stated on Tuesday that Afghanistan’s government is at risk if its leadership is unable to unite once all international troops have left. The warning comes just days after the Taliban took hold of several districts and the UN warned of dire scenarios in Afghanistan. Since May, insurgents have captured 50 of 370 districts.
Read More: US military ‘days away’ from completing Afghanistan pull-out
