U.S. likely to up Afghanistan force to ensure safe drawdown

WASHINGTON — The U.S. will likely increase its troop presence in Afghanistan temporarily over the coming weeks and months in order to fulfill President Joe Biden’s order to safely withdraw all forces from the country by Sept. 11, the Pentagon said Friday.

Pentagon chief spokesman John Kirby declined to provide specifics and said details are still being worked out. But he said “it’s logical to assume that you may need some logistics help, maybe some engineering help, you may have to add some force protection capabilities — again temporarily — just to make sure that the drawdown goes in a safe, orderly and effective way.”

Biden announced Wednesday that the U.S. would pull all of its more than 2,500 troops out of Afghanistan by Sept. 11 — the 20th anniversary of the al-Qaida terror attack on the U.S. that had triggered the U.S.led invasion of Afghanistan. NATO announced it would follow the same timetable for withdrawing more than 7,000 allied forces.

The president’s decision defies a May 1 withdrawal deadline that was agreed to by the Trump administration as part of a peace agreement with the Taliban. Instead, Biden said that the U.S. withdrawal would begin on May 1.

Speaking at a Pentagon press conference on Friday, Kirby had few details on the pace and timing of the drawdown. He said it was not clear how many troops would be out of the country by May 1 as a signal to the Taliban that the U.S. was abiding by its new plan to begin leaving.

The Taliban has warned that it will retaliate if the U.S. does not abide by the Trump administration’s agreement.