World News | NATO to Match US Troop Pullout from Afghanistan
Get latest articles and stories on World at LatestLY. NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg says the alliance has agreed to withdraw its roughly 7,000 forces from Afghanistan to match US President Joe Biden's decision to pull all American troops from the country starting on May 1.
Brussels, Apr 14 (AP) NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg says the alliance has agreed to withdraw its roughly 7,000 forces from Afghanistan to match US President Joe Biden's decision to pull all American troops from the country starting on May 1.
Stoltenberg said the full withdrawal would be completed “in months” but did not mention the 20th anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks set as a goal by Biden.
“We went into Afghanistan together, we have adjusted our posture together and we are united in leaving together,” he said.
Stoltenberg revealed the decision shortly after Biden formally announced his plans and after meeting with Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin at NATO headquarters in Brussels.
Blinken and Austin spent the day in talks with senior officials from the alliance's 30 members to discuss NATO's future presence in Afghanistan.
Blinken said earlier that he expected the allies to withdraw together. But he maintained that neither the US nor NATO would abandon the country despite the impending pullout. (AP)
(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)