U.S.-Taliban deal biggest factor in collapse of Afghan forces, watchdog says

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Members of Taliban sit on a military vehicle during Taliban military parade in Kabul
Members of Taliban sit on a military vehicle during Taliban military parade in Kabul, Afghanistan November 14, 2021. REUTERS/Ali Khara

WASHINGTON, May 18 (Reuters) - The biggest factor that led to the collapse of the Afghan military in August last year was the U.S. decision to withdraw forces and contractors from Afghanistan through an agreement with the Taliban signed by the Trump administration and executed by the Biden administration, a U.S. watchdog report concluded.

The withdrawal "destroyed" the morale of the Afghan military as it was dependent on U.S. military support, according to an assessment by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, or SIGAR, which was made public late Tuesday.

"SIGAR found that the single most important factor in the ANDSF's (Afghan National Defense and Security Forces) collapse in August 2021 was the U.S. decision to withdraw military forces and contractors from Afghanistan through signing the U.S.-Taliban agreement in February 2020 under the Trump administration, followed by President Biden’s withdrawal announcement in April 2021," the report said.

Under U.S. President Joe Biden's Republican predecessor Donald Trump, the United States made a deal with the Islamist Taliban to withdraw all American forces. read more

After the signing of the deal, the U.S. military support to Afghan forces came down, which also included a drop in air strikes in 2020 after a record high level in the previous year, the report added.

"Limiting airstrikes after the signing of the U.S.-Taliban agreement the following year left the ANDSF without a key advantage in keeping the Taliban at bay," John Sopko, the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, said.

The Taliban overran Afghanistan in August as the former Western-backed government collapsed with surprising speed and the last U.S. troops withdrew.

Biden had argued the war in Afghanistan needed to be brought to a close after 20 years of fighting that had cost American lives, drained resources and distracted from greater strategic priorities.

The U.S. Congress created the office of SIGAR to provide an oversight of reconstruction projects and activities during the war in Afghanistan.

"Many Afghans thought the U.S.-Taliban agreement was an act of bad faith and a signal that the U.S. was handing over Afghanistan to the enemy as it rushed to exit the country," Sopko said.

Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Thomson Reuters

Kanishka Singh is a breaking news reporter for Reuters in Washington DC, who primarily covers US politics and national affairs in his current role. His past breaking news coverage has spanned across a range of topics like the Black Lives Matter movement; the US elections; the 2021 Capitol riots and their follow up probes; the Brexit deal; US-China trade tensions; the NATO withdrawal from Afghanistan; the COVID-19 pandemic; and a 2019 Supreme Court verdict on a religious dispute site in his native India.

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