US withdraws from five Afghan military bases as part of deal reached with Taliban

摘要

The Pentagon announced on 14 July that the United States has withdrawn from five military bases in Afghanistan and reduced the number of its troops in the Central Asian country, as agreed in the conditions-based deal Washington signed with the Taliban on 29 February in Doha, Qatar. "As stipulated in the agreement, the United States agreed to reduce its forces in Afghanistan to 8,600 and withdraw from five bases. We have met this obligation. US forces in Afghanistan remain in the mid-8,000s and five bases formerly occupied by US forces have been transferred to our Afghan partners," Chief Pentagon Spokesperson Jonathan Hoffman said in a statement, adding that 13 July marked 135 days since the signing of the US-Taliban agreement. The bases were not identified but Afghan media outlet TOLO news quoted an unnamed US official in Kabul as saying that they were located in Helmand, Uruzgan, Paktika and Laghman provinces. This means that the larger military bases in Bagram, outside Kabul, and Kandahar Airfield in south-eastern Afghanistan remain in use by US and coalition forces.