NATO Chief Warns Of 'High' Price Of Hasty Afghan Pullout

A hasty pullout of US and allied troops from
Afghanistan could see the country become a "platform for international
terrorists" again, NATO chief Jens
Stoltenberg warned Tuesday.
His blunt message, given in a statement, was in
response to reports that US President Donald Trump is planning to accelerate
the withdrawal of American forces from Afghanistan, where they support a NATO
mission, and from Iraq.
"The price for leaving too soon or in an
uncoordinated way could be very high," Stoltenberg said.
"Afghanistan risks becoming once again a
platform for international terrorists to plan and organise attacks on our
homelands. And ISIS (the Islamic State group) could rebuild in Afghanistan the
terror caliphate it lost in Syria and Iraq," he said.
The warning was unprecedented criticism by
Stoltenberg of a Trump decision. Up to now, the NATO secretary general has been
careful to not publicly contest statements by Trump relating to the Alliance.
But after his defeat in US elections this month by
Joe Biden, Trump -- who remains in power until January 20 next year -- fired
his defense secretary Mark Esper, replacing him with Christopher Miller, who
said last weekend of American troops in conflicts abroad: "It's time to
come home."
Trump reportedly wants to cut US troop numbers in
Afghanistan to around 2,500, from more than 5,000 currently, before his term
ends. He also reportedly wants to pull out 500 soldiers from Iraq.
Stoltenberg in his statement repeated what he said
in the past, that NATO troop levels in Afghanistan remained under continual
review and that, "when the time is right, we should leave together in a
coordinated and orderly way".
He said there were currently fewer than 12,000 NATO
soldiers in Afghanistan, "and more than half of these are non-US forces".
Funding for their mission to train and assist Afghan security forces was
allocated "through 2024," he added.