ANKARA
New Afghan president Ashraf Ghani has said that the Obama administration may need to “re-examine” its Dec. 2016 deadline for total withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Ghani, in an interview for CBS’s Lara Logan aired on Sunday, said: "Deadlines concentrate the mind. But deadlines should not be dogmas.”
The U.S. ended its combat mission in Afghanistan last month, 13 years after the longest war in America’s history began.
More than 2,200 American troops have been killed in Afghanistan since 2001. According to the White House, U.S. forces (around 10,000) will train, advise and assist the Afghan military in conducting counterterrorism operations against the remnants of the al-Qaeda network.
Barack Obama has promised to withdraw the last American soldier from Afghanistan by Dec. 2016 – a U.S. presidential election year.
However, Ghani told CBS: "If both parties, or, in this case, multiple partners, have done their best to achieve the objectives and progress... then there should be willingness to re-examine a deadline."
Asked if President Obama knows this, Ghani said: “Obama knows me. We don’t need to tell each other.”
The United Nations has said that more than 3,000 civilians were killed in Afghanistan in 2014, making it the bloodiest year for non-combatants since U.S.-led foreign forces ousted the Taliban in 2001.
Afghan security forces have finally resumed full security responsibilities for the whole country, when the U.S. and NATO formally ended their combat mission on December 28.
www.aa.com.tr/en
