The Taliban have not yet met conditions required for a complete US troop withdrawal from Afghanistan by next May as envisioned in a US-Taliban deal signed in February, a top US general said.
General Frank McKenzie, head of US Central Command, said the US is ahead of schedule for an initial drawdown by July to 8,600 troops.
McKenzie stressed, however, that the number going to zero by May is dependent on conditions.
“Those conditions would be: Can we be assured that attacks against us will not be generated there? And as of right now … frankly, if asked my opinion, those conditions have not been fully met,” he said in a video conference hosted by the Middle East Institute in Washington.
This comes as US President Donald Trump focuses on an early troop exit that would fulfil his frequent promise to get the US out of Afghanistan. Trump believes US troops are acting as police instead of army.
“The threat to the United States is not the Taliban. It has never been the Taliban,” McKenzie said. “It’s the entities that they allow to live in Afghanistan that threaten us.” He mentioned the Islamic State group’s Afghan affiliate and al-Qaida.
“We believe the Taliban actually are no friends of ISIS and work against them,” he said, referring to the Islamic State group. “It is less clear to me that they will take the same action against al-Qaida.”
McKenzie said the Trump administration is engaged in “very robust dialogue” internally and with NATO and coalition partners “as we evaluate the way forward” in Afghanistan.
