Karzai hails US military withdrawal from Afghanistan, urges Taliban to seek peace
28 May 2014, 18:44 -- President Hamid Karzai on Wednesday welcomed US plans to pull all troops out of Afghanistan by the end of 2016, and called on Taliban insurgents to seize the opportunity to seek peace, AFP reports.
Outlining the US strategy to end America's longest war, 15 years after the September 11 attacks, President Barack 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.
'Ending the US military presence, and assumption of security affairs by the Afghan forces has been a main demand of the president, the government and the people of Afghanistan,' Karzai said in a statement.
He urged the insurgents to 'use this historic opportunity... so that the war, which was launched (by the Taliban) on the pretext of the presence of foreign soldiers, ends.'
'The Afghan government thanks the international community for their assistance and is confident that, as proven throughout the history, Afghan security forces will guard the security of people and the territorial integrity of the country,' the statement said.
US troop withdrawal plan is 'continued occupation' - Taliban
The Taliban on Wednesday condemned President Barack Obama's announcement that US troops would stay in Afghanistan until the end of 2016, AFP reports.
'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 insurgents' name for the country.
'We have always clearly expressed our stance that even if one American soldier is in Afghanistan, it is not acceptable to our nation and Jihad will continue against them.'
NATO combat troops are due to withdraw from the country by December, but a residual US force is expected to remain behind for training exercises and counter-terror missions, if both countries sign a long-delayed Bilateral Security Agreement.
Afghanistan's outgoing president Hamid Karzai has refused to sign the agreement, but both of the candidates vying to be his successor in next month's run-off vote - Ashraf Ghani and Abdullah Abdullah - have said they will sign the deal.
Obama announced 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.
The Taliban insisted US troops should pull out right away.
'The American leaders should do now what they plan to do two years later... if the Americans really want to free themselves from the Afghan war, they should completely withdraw their soldiers from Afghanistan,' the statement said.
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