President Donald Trump has told his military and national security advisers in recent days to pull all US troops out of Afghanistan amid concerns about coronavirus outbreak, NBC News reported on Monday.
Trump complains almost daily that US troops are still in Afghanistan and are now vulnerable to the pandemic, the report said citing two current and one former US officials.
Trump’s military advisers have made the case to him that if the US pulls troops out of Afghanistan because of the coronavirus, by that standard the Pentagon would also have to withdraw from places like Italy, which has been hit particularly hard by the pandemic.
While the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan because of the coronavirus has been under discussion, a more likely outcome would be to consolidate American forces at bases in one or two parts of the country, the report said citing officials.
Afghan officials have confirmed 1,703 cases of coronavirus and 57 deaths attributed to it. US officials, however, have said that there could be at least 10 times as many cases there as the government has officially tallied.
Afghanistan’s health ministry has warned that 80 percent of the country’s population could become infected and more than 100,000 could die without more precautions.
US officials worry the virus could become rampant in Afghanistan, given its lack of health care and testing and its shared border with Iran, which has been hit hard by the pandemic.
“Afghanistan is going to have a significant coronavirus issue,” a former senior US official said. “It hasn’t really manifested yet but it will.”
The US military is in the midst of a drawdown in Afghanistan already following an agreement with the Taliban. In early March it began decreasing its total footprint from more than 12,000 to 8,600 over 135 days. But troops have been leaving the country faster than originally planned, according to two US defense officials, and the US is now on track to beat the original deadline, NBC News reported.
“U.S. Forces Afghanistan continues to draw down force levels and expects to be at 8,600 U.S. troops in 135 days (mid-July) in accordance with the U.S.-Taliban agreement. USFOR-A remains committed to supporting our Afghan partners throughout the process and maintains the capabilities and authorities necessary to accomplish our objectives,” said Lt. Col. Thomas Campbell, a Pentagon spokesperson.
