Authorities blanketed Kashmir with troops, who laid out barbed wire and set up road blacks to prevent demonstrations.

The president’s assertion undercuts diplomats who have said withdrawals will depend on the Taliban’s commitment to its peace deal with the United States.

Afghanistan will convene a grand assembly of elders, known as the loya jirga, in Kabul on Friday to decide the fate of hundreds of prisoners the Taliban insist should be released before entering peace talks with the government.