The Pentagon is anticipating possible attacks on US military personnel as the US withdrawal from Afghanistan proceeds past the May 1 date negotiated by the Trump administration in a February 2020 deal with the Taliban, reported the Associated Press.
According to the agreement, May 1 was the date in which all American and coalition forces were to have left the country. As part of the deal, the Taliban ceased attacks on US forces. None have been killed since that time.
The Taliban has stated that would consider the US to have broken the agreement if military stay in Afghanistan past the agreed upon date.
Taliban representatives have not given a definite answer on whether attacks on US military will resume after May 1.
Last month, US President Joe Biden made the decision to slow down the withdrawal of troops, leaving as many as 3,500 along with thousands of contractors in the country past the deadline. A full withdrawal will have taken place by September 11, 2021, the twentieth anniversary of the September 11 attacks that led to the American invasion of Afghanistan.
“It would be irresponsible for us not to assume that this drawdown and forces drawing down — both American and from our NATO allies — could be attacked by the Taliban,” Pentagon press secretary John Kirby told reporters.
General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, on Thursday called the pullout “complex and not without risk.”
The State Department is reportedly already concerned. It has ordered its embassy staff in Kabul to leave Afghanistan unless their jobs are essential.
(Arutz Sheva’s North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Arutz Sheva articles, however, is Israeli time.)