NATO likely to withdraw from Afghanistan in Sept.: German min

NATO will likely join the United States in withdrawing all troops from Afghanistan in September, German Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer said Wednesday.

“We always said: we’ll go in together, we’ll leave together,” she told ARD public television, DW reported.

“I am for an orderly withdrawal and that is why I assume that we (NATO) will agree to that today.”

NATO defense and foreign ministers will hold a video conference Wednesday after the US said it was planning to withdraw its forces from Afghanistan by the 20th anniversary of the September 11 suicide hijackings this year.

Under a February 2020 “peace” deal between the Taliban and the Trump administration, Washington vowed to withdraw all 2,500 US troops remaining in Afghanistan. In return, the Taliban pledged to stop attacks on US troops.

The US invaded Afghanistan in October 2001 under the pretext of the so-called war against terror.

NATO allies including Germany had been waiting for Biden to decide whether the US would stick to a May 1 deadline to withdraw under the deal with Taliban.