Taliban condemn US decision to keep troops in Afghanistan by 2016
Iran Press TV
Wed May 28, 2014 11:26AM GMT
The Taliban on Wednesday condemned US President Barack Obama's decision to keep thousands of troops in Afghanistan beyond 2014.
'Now that Obama has announced that he will keep around 10,000 troops until the end of 2016 and continue their occupation, Afghanistan Islamic Emirate condemns it and considers it a violation of sovereignty, religion and human rights,' said a statement, using the militants' name for the country.
Outlining the US strategy to end America's longest war, Obama confirmed Tuesday that the 32,000-strong US deployment in Afghanistan would be scaled back to around 9,800 by the start of 2015.
Those forces would be halved by the end of 2015 before eventually being reduced to a normal embassy presence with a security assistance component by the end of 2016, according to AFP.
The American troops are set to train Afghan forces and support so-called counter-terrorism operations in Afghanistan.
Taliban insurgents vowed to continue fighting until a complete withdrawal of US forces take place.
'The American leaders should do now what they plan to do two years later. Even if one American soldier is in Afghanistan, it is not acceptable to our nation and jihad will continue against them,' the statement said.
Tension between Washington and Kabul is high as outgoing Afghan President Hamid Karzai has refused to sign a long-delayed Bilateral Security Agreement laying out the terms and conditions of the US military presence in the country after this year.
The United States hopes Karzai's successors will eventually sign the controversial deal.
'I'm hopeful we can get this done,' Obama said, as he outlined the end of US involvement in a conflict which began when American-led forces invaded Afghanistan to oust the Taliban after the 2001 attacks on New York and Washington. 'We're finishing the job we started,' he said.
ARA/ARA
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