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Agence France-Presse

US President Donald Trump on Thursday said the United States would maintain a presence in Afghanistan even if Washington reaches an agreement with the Taliban.
“We’re going down to 8,600 [troops] and then we make a determination from there,” Trump said in an interview with Fox News radio. “We’re always going to have a presence.”
Trump also said that if another attack on the US originated from Afghanistan, “we would come back with a force like … never before”.
US troops were first sent to Afghanistan after the September 11 terrorist attacks on US soil carried out by al-Qaeda, which was sheltered by the former Taliban regime.
US and the Taliban resume push for peace at Doha talks
Washington now wants to end its military involvement and has been talking to the Taliban since at least 2018.
Trump said that troops would only be reduced when the Taliban gave a guarantee its territory would not be used by al-Qaeda or other international militant groups.
Trump underlined that there was to be no complete withdrawal, keeping a force that would provide “high intelligence”.
“You have to keep a presence,” he said.


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Afghanistan

US will keep 8,600 troops in Afghanistan even if peace deal is struck with Taliban, says Trump

US soldiers in Kandahar province, southern Afghanistan. File photo: AFP

The US and the Taliban resume push for peace at Doha talks with aim to allow Washington to withdraw troops

A US military helicopter is seen flying towards the Green Zone in Kabul on August 3, 2019. Photo: AFP

(FILES) In this file photo taken on July 8, 2019, Mohammad Nabi Omari (C-L), a Taliban member formerly held by the US at Guantanamo Bay and reportedly released in 2014 in a prisoner exchange, Taliban negotiator Abbas Stanikzai (C-R), and former Taliban intelligence deputy Mawlawi Abdul Haq Wasiq (R) walk with another Taliban member during the second day of the Intra Afghan Dialogue talks in the Qatari capital Doha. - An Afghanistan peace agreement that the US seems close to reaching with the Taliban has prompted worries that President Donald Trump's eagerness to withdraw US troops risks worsening the civil war and again creating a haven for terrorists. Trump said on August 17, 2019 he was pleased with talks on ending the war, 18 years after the September 11, attacks that prompted the US invasion of Afghanistan in the first place. (Photo by KARIM JAAFAR / AFP)

(FILES) In this file photo taken on July 8, 2019 US Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad attends the Intra Afghan Dialogue talks in the Qatari capital Doha. - US diplomat Zalmay Khalilzad is heading to Doha, Qatar on August 20, 2019 for more talks with the Taliban as signs of a possible Afghanistan peace deal emerge, the State Department announced. After talks in Doha, Khalilzad will travel to Kabul where he "will consult with the leadership of the Afghan government on the peace process and encourage full preparation for intra-Afghan negotiations," the department said. (Photo by KARIM JAAFAR / AFP)

Donald Trump meets top advisers on Afghanistan peace plan

Afghan policemen stand guard after an explosion near the police headquarters in Kabul on August 7. Photo: AP

TOPSHOT - US President Donald Trump speaks to the media in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC on July 26, 2019. (Photo by Brendan Smialowski / AFP)

FILE PHOTO: U.S. envoy for peace in Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad speaks during a debate at Tolo TV channel in Kabul, Afghanistan April 28, 2019. REUTERS/Omar Sobhani/File Photo

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani seeks ‘clarification’ after Donald Trump makes extraordinary claim he could wipe country ‘off the face of the Earth’

Donald Trump. Photo: AFP

FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Donald Trump greets Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, U.S., July 22, 2019. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst/File Photo

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The US President also warned if another attack on the US originated from Afghanistan, ‘we would come back with a force like … never before’



The US president also warned if another attack on the US originated from Afghanistan, ‘we would come back with a force like … never before’.


United States

Donald Trump

Diplomacy

Taliban

US will keep 8,600 troops in Afghanistan even if peace deal is struck with Taliban, says Trump

.css-1mniedq{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;} The US President also warned if another attack on the US originated from Afghanistan, ‘we would come back with a force like … never before’

The US President also warned if another attack on the US originated from Afghanistan, ‘we would come back with a force like … never before’