Cabinet discusses US troop pullout

KABUL (Tolo News): The Afghan government’s preparations for the withdrawal of foreign forces from the country were discussed in a cabinet meeting. It was chaired by President Ashraf Ghani, who said the decision to pull the troops out of Afghanistan does not mean a cut in Afghanistan-US ties but opens a new chapter in relations.

The implementation of bilateral as well as multilateral agreements after the withdrawal of US forces was also discussed in the meeting, the Presidential Palace said. The Afghan government discussed preparing for the withdrawal of US forces by empowering security and defense forces. Also, recent remarks by Muslim countries’ scholars calling the Afghanistan war illegitimate were also discussed in the meeting.

The meeting participants called for a Loya Jirga to be held in which the status of permanent impartiality of Afghanistan could be considered after withdrawal. This comes as President Ghani at an online event last week said the Afghan government “is not at risk of collapse” as feared because Afghanistan’s allies, mainly the United States, have announced the withdrawal of foreign forces from the country in the upcoming few months.

He said that all these forces have been brought into one command of the Afghanistan National Authority for Special Operations and that they carry out 30 to 40 operations every day. The United States has announced that all its troops will be out of Afghanistan by September 11.