US May Delay Afghanistan Withdrawal Amid Violence Surge

The Biden administration will likely keep U.S. troops in Afghanistan, despite a deal between its predecessor and the Taliban for a May 1 withdrawal date, because of a surge in violence, reports ABC News.

The Trump administration last year signed an agreement with the Taliban to end the 18-year war in Afghanistan that has killed more than 157,000 people and is estimated to have cost the U.S. $2 trillion. The pact addressed four issues, including reducing violence, withdrawing foreign troops from Afghanistan by May, starting intra-Afghan relations, and guaranteeing Afghanistan will not again become a refuge for terrorists.

But the Biden administration says the Taliban has not met its commitment.

"As you know, there is a looming deadline of early May," Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby said Thursday, adding "but without them meeting their commitments to renounce terrorism and to stop the violent attacks on the Afghan National Security Forces and, by dint of that, the Afghan people, it's very hard to see a specific way forward for the negotiated settlement."

Zabihullah Mujahid, a Taliban spokesman, said Friday that Kirby's assertions were "unfounded."

Kirby's comments follow the release of a report issued by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, which found casualties "exceptionally high for the winter months when fighting normally subsides."

"There has been no cease-fire agreement and high levels of insurgent and extremist violence continued in Afghanistan this quarter, despite repeated pleas from senior U.S. and international officials to reduce violence in an effort to advance the peace process," John Sopko, the longtime special inspector general, wrote in the report's introduction. "Nor is it evident, as SIGAR discusses in this report, that the Taliban has broken ties with the al-Qaida terrorists who orchestrated the 9/11 attacks on the United States."

• US Watchdog: Taliban Attacks Increased in Afghan Capital
• Taliban Have 'Not Met Their Commitments' in Afghan Peace Deal: Pentagon