The Taliban say they have the right to take action if US troops stay in Afghanistan | Conflicting Issues

A spokesman told Al Jazeera that if Washington kept 650 troops on the last day of September 11, it would be a clear ‘violation of the agreement’.

Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen told Al Jazeera in an exclusive interview that the military had a “right to answer” if the United States retained troops in Afghanistan after September 11, when the deadline to end the strike was over.

U.S. officials told the Associated Press on Thursday that an estimated 650 U.S. troops are expected to remain in Afghanistan to provide security to spies after Washington withdrew its troops to end the country’s 20-year-old military.

Based on the report, Shaheen told Osama Bin Javaid of Al Jazeera in Doha that if the US did this, it would violate the law. agreement The goal is to end the longest US war that took place between Washington and the Taliban capital Qatar in February 2020.

“We have signed the Doha Treaty and we have been negotiating with the US side for 18 months. They have agreed and committed to leaving Afghanistan all their military forces, their advisers and contractors,” Shaheen said.

“I think I’m breaking the agreement,” he added.

“If he is here, then I think I will continue to do this work. He has broken and we have the right to take action,” Shaheen said.

U.S. President Joe Biden in April announced plans to withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan by September 11, adding a few months to the last May 1 agreement on a coalition between his predecessors, Donald Trump, and the Taliban following talks with the government. of Afghanistan.

The last draw for Biden-led troops began on May 1 when US military forces numbered between 2,500 and 3,500, and will end on July 4. The world’s armed forces, including 7,000 NATO troops, are due to leave on September 11.

Shaheen told Al Jazeera that the Taliban had offered to provide security measures to US troops as they were leaving Afghanistan and that the army would not attack them.

“We remained faithful to that,” Shaheen said.

“We did not defeat them while they were breathing. Although [when] they broke away from Afghanistan on May 1 – however, we did not shoot them when we were able to do so. ”

Fear is falling government

The withdrawal comes as a result of the discovery of many areas that the Taliban have acquired since the beginning of the US and NATO invasions, which has added to Western fears that the Afghan government and its military may collapse in a few months.

The Taliban have seized a number of territories, while intensifying their attacks on governmental authority.

Speaking in Paris on Friday, United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken acknowledged that the invasion of Afghanistan’s military was intensifying and that Washington was assessing whether peace plans were realistic.

“We are monitoring the situation in Afghanistan and we are also looking closely at whether the Taliban are determined to end the conflict peacefully,” Blinken said.

“We are still in the process of negotiating, but what could lead to the country’s repression is the opposite of finding a peaceful solution.”