President Donald Trump said Saturday that the first withdrawals of US troops from Afghanistan are starting "immediately," following the successful signing of a deal with the Taliban.

Asked when the drawdown would begin under the accord, Trump told journalists: "Like today, OK? Today. They'll start immediately."

The deal signed Saturday in Doha will see US troops and the smaller numbers of foreign allies pulling out of Afghanistan within 14 months, as long as the Taliban stick to commitments to negotiate with the Western-backed government in Kabul and repel international jihadist groups.

The US, which currently has between 12,000 and 13,000 troops in Afghanistan, will draw that number down to 8,600 within 135 days of the signing.

With Taliban deal, US shifts away from two decades of global war
Washington (AFP) Feb 29, 2020 - In making peace with the Taliban, the United States is moving to end its longest-ever war and also signalling a major shift: After two decades, an era of global US military interventionism is winding down.

Since the September 11, 2001 attacks killed 3,000 people and traumatized the American psyche, the debate in Washington has been not whether but how to wage a worldwide "war on terror."

The 2003 invasion of Iraq set off worldwide protests but Afghanistan had been cast in Washington as "the good war," with Presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump both reluctantly ramping up troop levels early in their tenures.

Under an agreement signed in Qatar on Saturday, the United States will immediately begin pulling troops and aim for a complete withdrawal within 14 months.

"After 19 years, we are finally removing American troops from endless conflicts around the globe," the White House said in a statement on the signing, which was attended by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

Adam Wunische, an Afghanistan expert at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, a new Washington think tank that promotes military restraint, said that withdrawal from Afghanistan had been the major taboo in the US capital.

"There are some places where we accept the higher risk of terrorism, but politicians are terrified of the prospect of a terrorist attack originating from Afghanistan and then having to explain it to their constituents. And that's because of the memory and scar of 9/11," he said.

"I think the election of Trump was not necessarily a shift in itself but it was an indication that the shift had occurred -- that someone could run on ending endless war and win."

Wunische doubted that the United States could turn back to a pre-Trump policy, with even hawks advocating a "more nuanced" interventionism rather than pushing for a return to massive military deployments.

Trump has said he was pleasantly surprised at Democrats' support for his Afghanistan plan.

All Democrats seeking to replace Trump have supported some form of withdrawal, with none facing the political pressures of Obama, who toured Afghanistan and Iraq in the midst of his 2008 campaign.

Representative Ro Khanna, a prominent supporter of Democratic presidential frontrunner Bernie Sanders, pointed to Al-Qaeda's expansion around the world and the Taliban's dominant position in swathes of Afghanistan despite two decades of US combat.

"Thinking we are going to bomb our way out of terrorism has just proven false," Khanna said.

"There was a very broad consensus that the initial strikes on Afghanistan were justified. But 20 years later? No one said that we were trying to reshape Afghanistan society."

- Selective war -

Despite Trump's campaign vows, the United States still stations more than 200,000 troops overseas -- and he has rushed 20,000 additional troops into the Middle East over the past year.

The Trump administration, while saying its broader goals are to counter China and Russia, has engaged in rising confrontation with Iran -- in January, the clerical state's most prominent general was killed in a US drone strike in Iraq.

A senior diplomat from a US ally saw a change in Washington but said it was a mistake to believe Trump was fully retreating from military involvement.

"Trump isn't an isolationist, he's a selectionist. He wants to pick and choose where the US will be active," the diplomat said.

"That sounds fine until there is a vacuum and it gets filled by other, much more problematic powers like Russia."

Russia has deployed in force into Syria, where both Obama and Trump resisted calls for greater intervention to try to stop President Bashar al-Assad's brutal crushing of opposition.

Trump was criticized across the political spectrum last year for how he abruptly pulled US forces from northern Syria, allowing Turkey to attack US-allied Kurds, but he faced few calls at home for an extended military deployment.

- Weary public -

Since September 11, US-led wars have led directly to the deaths of more than 800,000 people and cost the United States some $6.4 trillion when including the future costs of care for veterans, according to Brown University's Costs of Wars Project.

Members of Congress have increasingly spoken of revising their "war on terror" authorization -- approved days after September 11 with only one dissenting vote -- that last year was used to justify US deployments or military action in 15 countries.

Support for military action has waned sharply since the Iraq debacle. In a September 2019 Gallup poll, 43 percent of Americans said the Afghanistan war was a mistake from the start.

But the mood may be more weariness than anger. Unlike during the Vietnam War, for which Americans were drafted, there are few major protests demanding a withdrawal from Afghanistan, where 22 US service members died last year.

Retired general David Petraeus, who commanded troops in both Iraq and Afghanistan, said the United States can sustain support for long-term deployments if it keeps down "the cost in blood and treasure" -- pointing to the seven-decade presence in Europe, South Korea and Japan.

The last two decades show that "ungoverned or even inadequately governed spaces in the Muslim world, particularly in the greater Middle East, will be exploited by Islamist extremists," he told an unreceptive audience at the Quincy Institute.

"You cannot watch this problem until it goes away. Because Las Vegas rules do not apply in these places -- what happens there doesn't stay there."

Afghanistan: nearly two decades of US intervention
Kabul (AFP) Feb 29, 2020 - The US-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, following the 9/11 terror attacks, targeted Al-Qaeda in the sanctuaries provided by the then Taliban government.

More than 18 years later, as Washington signed a deal with the Taliban on Saturday in Doha to end America's longest war, here is a timeline of developments:

- 'War on terror' -

On October 7, 2001 -- less than a month after the September 11 attacks that killed around 3,000 people in the US -- President George W. Bush launches operation "Enduring Freedom" in Afghanistan.

The country's Islamic fundamentalist Taliban regime had been sheltering Osama bin Laden and his Al-Qaeda movement, which carried out the attacks.

The operation opens a military front in the US "war on terrorism".

Within weeks, US-led forces overthrow the Taliban, in power since 1996.

Besides carrying out air strikes, Washington also lends support to the Afghan Northern Alliance fighting the Taliban, contributing paramilitary teams from the CIA and special forces.

About 1,000 American soldiers are on the ground by November 2001, rising to 10,000 the next year.

- Forgotten war -

US attention is diverted from Afghanistan when US forces invade Iraq in 2003 to oust dictator Saddam Hussein, accused of harbouring weapons of mass destruction.

The Taliban and other Islamist outfits regroup in their strongholds in southern and eastern Afghanistan, from where they can easily travel between their bases in Pakistan's tribal zones, and launch an insurgency.

In 2008, the US command in Afghanistan calls for more manpower. Bush sends additional soldiers and about 48,500 US troops are deployed.

- Peak of 100,000 troops -

In 2009, Barack Obama -- elected president on campaign promises to end the Iraq and Afghanistan wars -- boosts the US deployment to around 68,000. In December, he sends another 30,000.

The objective is to stymie the growing Taliban insurgency and to strengthen Afghan institutions.

By 2010, more than 150,000 foreign soldiers are deployed in Afghanistan, of which 100,000 are American.

- Bin Laden killed -

Bin Laden is killed on May 2, 2011 in a US special forces operation in Pakistan.

- Combat operations end -

On December 31, 2014, the NATO alliance ends its combat mission in Afghanistan.

But, under agreements reached a few months earlier, 12,500 foreign soldiers -- of which 9,800 are American -- remain to train Afghan troops and conduct anti-terrorist operations.

Security in Afghanistan degenerates as the Taliban's insurgency spreads, with the Islamic State (IS) group also becoming active in early 2015.

In July 2016, Obama slows the planned pace of withdrawal of US troops, saying 8,400 will remain into 2017.

- Mega bomb against IS -

In April 2017, the US military drops the largest non-nuclear bomb it has ever used in combat on an IS network of tunnels and caves in eastern Afghanistan. Afghan officials say it killed 96 jihadists.

- US reinforcements -

In August 2017, new US President Donald Trump scraps any timetables for a US pullout and re-commits thousands more soldiers.

In mid-November, some 3,000 soldiers arrive to reinforce the 11,000 troops already deployed.

However, deadly attacks multiply, especially against Afghan forces. The US steps up air strikes dramatically.

- Talks -

In mid-2018, Washington and Taliban representatives discreetly open talks in Doha, led by US special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad, focused on slashing the US military footprint in Afghanistan.

In return, the US demands that the Taliban prevent the country from being used as a safe haven for jihadist groups including Al-Qaeda.

But amid continued Taliban violence, Trump in September calls off talks, angered over the death of a US soldier in a Kabul bombing.

On December 7, negotiations are re-started in Doha, only to be paused again following a Taliban attack near Bagram air base outside Kabul.

During a surprise visit to Bagram on November 28, Trump said he is ready to reduce troops below 8,600.

- Historic deal -

On February 13 2020, the United States announces it has secured a seven-day reduction in violence in Afghanistan that it hopes will pave the way for an agreement with the Taliban.

On Saturday, the United States signs a landmark deal with the Taliban in the Qatari capital, laying out a timetable for a full troop withdrawal from Afghanistan within 14 months.

The agreement is expected to lead to dialogue between the Taliban and the US-backed Kabul government that, if successful, could ultimately see an end to the 18-year conflict.

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