Trump says he would withdraw troops but leave intelligence officers in Afghanistan

(July 3) Trump said Monday that he would like to have a complete withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan but wants to leave a "strong intelligence" there a number of intelligence officers. He called Afghanistan the "Harvard of terrorists".

US and Taliban negotiating a deal for US withdrawal

The US is in ongoing talks with the Taliban on a peace deal that would see the US withdraw all its troops from the country a Taliban precondition for any agreement. In return for the withdrawal the Taliban would promise not to allow ISIS and Al Qaeda to stay within Afghanistan.

Mike Pompeo has already confirmed that the US has agreed to withdraw but only as part of a completed agreed upon plan as reported in a recent Digital Journal article: "We've made clear to the Taliban that we're prepared to remove our forces. I want to be clear, we've not yet agreed on a timeline to do so."

As discussed in a recent Digital Journal article , Pompeo said: "We've made clear to the Taliban that we're prepared to remove our forces. I want to be clear, we've not yet agreed on a timeline to do so."

Recent peace talks attempt to set a firm timetable for US withdrawal.

Trump says US needs to watch the country

It is not clear how the US would place their intelligence agents in the country without an occupation force. No doubt they could be part of embassy staff but if the Taliban knew they were spying they could very well be ejected.

It is not evident that this issue has been discussed in negotiations with the Taliban. If it has not it could very well cause difficulties in the negotiations. If the US insists on such a condition it could very well jeopardize the success of the talks.

Trump has long been interested in US withdrawal from Afghanistan

Trump has long expressed interest in pulling out of Afghanistan, though some in the administration have been keen to keep troops in the country, and many in Congress have expressed discomfort with the idea of the war, the longest in US history, ever ending.

The Taliban have refused to negotiate with members of the Afghan government which they consider a puppet of the US. However , a recent article in the Digital Journal indicates there have been fresh attempts to bring the Afghans into the process.

Previously published in the Digital Journal