Taliban Threatens US With Countermeasures
The Taliban, responding to US President Joe Biden’s troops pullout policy on Wednesday, issued a statement on Thursday saying that the US by skipping the May 1 troop deadline has violated the Doha peace agreement.
US President Joe Biden on Wednesday announced the full withdrawal of United States troops from Afghanistan, which have been in the country for nearly 20 years. The announcement raised fears that the war-ravaged country will be plunged into a new civil war.
“This decision is a clear violation of the Doha Agreement and non-compliance with its commitments,” the Taliban said in a statement on Thursday.
The Taliban statement also said: “As this agreement was signed in the presence of United Nations and representatives of numerous world countries and organizations, and is currently being breached by America, it is imperative that all countries and organizations that were witnesses to the signing of this agreement exert pressure on America to implement its commitments and withdraw all forces from Afghanistan by the specified date.”
“Now as the agreement is being breached by America, it in principle opens the way for the Mujahideen of Islamic Emirate to take every necessary countermeasure, hence the American side will be held responsible for all future consequences, and not the Islamic Emirate,” the Taliban said.
Biden said that it has been 10 years since Osama Bin Laden’s death, and it is time to end America’s war in the country and to bring US troops home.
“We will begin our withdrawal on May 1,” Biden said, adding that it will not be a “hasty rush to the exit,” and if the Taliban attacks, the US will defend itself and partners with “all the tools at our disposal.”
Announcing a full withdrawal from the country, Biden said, “We went to Afghanistan because of a horrific attack that happened 20 years ago.”
Under the US-Taliban peace agreement signed on February 2020, all US forces stationed in Afghanistan must leave the country by May 1. But sources close to the Taliban have said that the Biden administration has asked the Taliban to agree on the presence of the US forces for another three or six months.
This comes amid a planned UN-led conference on Afghanistan in Turkey on April 24.
The Taliban on Tuesday warned that the group will not participate in any conference that will make decisions about Afghanistan, hours after the Washington Post reported that the Biden Administration will pull out its forces from the country by September 11.
“Until all foreign forces completely withdraw from our homeland, the Islamic Emirate will not participate in any conference that shall make decisions about Afghanistan,” tweeted Mohammad Naeem, a spokesman for the Taliban in Doha.