President Donald Trump wants to reduce US combat forces in Afghanistan before the 2020 US presidential vote, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Monday, reflecting growing pressure from the White House to end the war.
In his August 2017 South Asia strategy, the president called for an open-ended deployment of troops aimed at forcing the Taliban to negotiate with the Kabul government to end a nearly 18-year insurgency.
Mr Pompeo’s latest comments though suggest that since talks between the US and the Taliban started last year, Mr Trump has changed his mind.
"That's my directive from the president of the United States," Mr Pompeo told The Economic Club of Washington when asked whether he expected a troopdraw down before the November 2020 election.
"He's been unambiguous: end the endless wars, draw down, reduce. It won't just be us," he said, referring to Mr Trump's directive. "We hope that overall the need for combat forces in the region is reduced."
The Taliban has called for a full withdrawal of foreign forces from Afghanistan, something Mr Trump is apparently willing to countenance, despite the concerns of the government in Kabul, which the Taliban regards as a puppet regime.
Mr Trump’s desire to extricate the United States from its longest war is taking precedence over the long-term stability of Afghanistan, some in Kabul fear.
"Now suddenly adhering to the date suited to Trump's election date has become more important than the meticulous task of bringing peace to Afghanistan," a senior Afghan official and close aide to President Ashraf Ghani told the Reuters news agency.
The US desire to withdraw irrespective of conditions in the country may further embolden the insurgents.
"The American haste to pull out foreign troops has only provided more leverage to the Taliban. Afghan forces will be soon be abandoned to fight the war alone," said the official.
Afghanistan is also preparing for a presidential election in September, with security precarious across the country, despite the United States preparing to engage in further talks with the insurgents.
On Friday, the State Department said Messrs Pompeo and Ghani agreed in a telephone call to "accelerate efforts" to end the war, and that the US remained committed to a "conditions-based" drawdown of troops.
Mr Pompeo said he was optimistic that negotiations with the Taliban could end the war.
The US is seeking a guarantee from the Taliban that the country will not become a safe haven for terrorism, in exchange for a drawdown of foreign forces.
"We want them to take their country back, and we want to reduce what is, for us, tens of billions of dollars a year in expenditures," Mr Pompeo said.
More than 20,000 US and Nato soldiers remain in the country in training, advisory and assistance roles.
Afghan forces are heavily dependent on the US for air-support and counter-terrorism operations.
