Thursday, 04 Feb 2021 08:44 AM MYT
US and Afghan National Army (ANA) soldiers chat with each other at a post in Deh Bala district, Nangarhar province, Afghanistan July 7, 2018. Reuters pic
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WASHINGTON, Feb 4 ― The United States should extend the May 1 deadline for pulling all its troops from Afghanistan, and make force cuts contingent on progress in peace talks as well as by the Taliban in reducing violence and containing al-Qaeda, a bipartisan report to Congress said yesterday.
Washington should not abandon the Afghan peace process, the report said. But conditions for its success will not be met by a May 1 deadline set in a 2020 US-Taliban agreement. Withdrawing all US troops then could lead to civil war, destabilising the region and reviving the al-Qaeda threat.