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Reed said on Sunday that if Biden had followed through on the Trump administration’s plan to withdraw its troops by May 1 – as part of a deal with the Taliban that failed to include the Afghan government – the respect of this set deadline would have “caused an incredible increase in violence directed against the United States.”
“I think he set a fixed date, rather than imposing conditions that would then have allowed us to leave Afghanistan,” he said. “And that too, most of the conditions imposed on the Taliban were unenforceable. They claimed that they would disassociate themselves from Al Qaeda, this is clearly not the case.
US troops have been in Afghanistan since 2001, when they invaded to overthrow the Taliban shortly after the September 11 attacks. While Biden rebuffed the idea that the withdrawal would lead the Taliban to overthrow the US-backed government in Kabul, US military leaders – including General Austin Miller, commander of the US-led mission in Afghanistan – warned of a possible civil war in the country once US troops leave.
But Reed sided with Biden on the issue, saying he believed “Kabul would hold up”, at least for now.
“The question is, can it hold up long enough to create a political solution between the parties? Reed said.
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