Defense Secretary Austin pays unannounced visit to Afghanistan

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin paid an unannounced visit to Afghanistan on Sunday as President Joe Biden’s administration must decide to withdraw its troops before the May 1 deadline, as required by a US deal with the Taliban .

The first member of Biden’s cabinet to visit the country, Austin met with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani as well as General Scott Miller, the top US commander in Afghanistan, according to the press pool traveling with the secretary.

“I came to Afghanistan to listen and learn,” Austin said in a Tweeter accompanied by a photo of him meeting with President Ghani. The visit was “very useful” and will help inform the administration’s decisions on Afghanistan, he said.

Austin flew to Kabul from New Delhi as part of a trip that included visits to Japan and South Korea.

Before arriving in Afghanistan, he told reporters in India that President Biden “had not made a decision or announced when he would decide to withdraw” US troops from Afghanistan.

Former President Donald Trump’s administration signed a deal with the Taliban last year that called on all US troops to leave Afghanistan by May 1 in exchange for insurgents entering peace talks with their opponents. within the Afghan government and pledging to prevent al-Qaeda or other extremists from launching terrorist attacks from Afghanistan.

NBC News previously reported that Biden planned to keep US troops in Afghanistan until November, rather than withdrawing them before the May 1 deadline.

The military presented several options to the White House, including withdrawing troops by or near May 1, keeping troops in the country indefinitely, or keeping troops in Afghanistan for a period to be determined by Biden , which could include a six-month period. extension, NBC News reported.

Biden said in an interview with ABC News last week that a troop withdrawal “could happen, but it’s difficult.” The president said that if the date of the troops’ exit was delayed it would not be “much longer”.

“I’m making that decision now as to when to leave,” Biden told ABC News.

There are approximately 2,500 American troops still in Afghanistan. U.S. troops have been in Afghanistan since a U.S.-led force overthrew the Taliban in 2001 for sheltering Al Qaeda militants who organized the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington.