Taliban Condemn U.S. Exit Strategy from Afghanistan
Source: Agence France-Presse
Taliban insurgents Wednesday denounced U.S. plans to keep troops in Afghanistan up to the end of 2016, threatening to wage war against the "occupation" until the very last foreign soldier pulls out.
But outgoing President Hamid Karzai welcomed the timetable for the U.S.'s complete withdrawal and called on the insurgents to seize a "historic" opportunity to seek peace after more than a decade of war.
Outlining the U.S. strategy to end America's longest war, President Barack Obama confirmed on Tuesday that the 32,000-strong U.S. deployment in Afghanistan would be scaled back to around 9,800 by the start of 2015.
Those forces would be halved by the end of 2015 before being reduced to a normal embassy presence with a security assistance component by the end of 2016.
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