{"id":56469,"date":"2021-03-14T16:18:16","date_gmt":"2021-03-14T16:18:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/uncategorized\/2021\/03\/14\/afghan-official-says-security-forces-can-hold-their-own-against-taliban-if-us-troops-withdraw\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T08:59:45","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T08:59:45","slug":"afghan-official-says-security-forces-can-hold-their-own-against-taliban-if-us-troops-withdraw","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/flashpoints\/2021\/03\/14\/afghan-official-says-security-forces-can-hold-their-own-against-taliban-if-us-troops-withdraw\/","title":{"rendered":"Afghan official says security forces can hold their own against Taliban if US troops withdraw"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

KABUL, Afghanistan \u2014 Afghanistan\u2019s interior minister said Saturday that Afghan security forces can hold their ground even if U.S. troops withdraw, challenging a warning from the United States predicting a withdrawal would yield quick territorial gains to the Taliban.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Masoud Andarabi\u2019s comments in an interview Saturday with The Associated Press were the first government reaction to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken\u2019s warning <\/a>issued in a sharply worded letter to Afghan President Ashraf Ghani last weekend. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the letter pressing Ghani to step up efforts to make peace with the Taliban, Blinken said, \u201cI am concerned the security situation will worsen and that the Taliban could make rapid territorial gains\u201d after the American military withdraws.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Andarabi said Afghanistan\u2019s National Security Forces could hold territory, but would likely endure heavy losses trying to hold remote checkpoints without U.S. air support.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Afghan security forces are fully capable of defending the capital and the cities and the territories that we are present in right now,\u201d he said. \u201cWe think that the Afghan security forces this year have proven to the Taliban that they will not be able to gain territory.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the Taliban have not attacked U.S. or NATO forces as a condition of the agreement, the Afghan National Security forces have faced some blistering assaults.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Afghan
Afghan security personnel stand guard after a car bomb explosion in Kabul, Afghanistan,Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2020. (Mariam Zuhaib\/AP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Interviewed at the heavily fortified Interior Ministry, Andarabi also repeated his government\u2019s warning against a hasty U.S. retreat from the war-ravaged country, saying that the Taliban\u2019s ties to al-Qaida remain intact and that a swift pullout would worsen global counterterrorism efforts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said that Afghan National Security Forces backed by U.S. assistance have so far put a squeeze on terrorist groups operating in Afghanistan, including the local Islamic State affiliate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A hasty \u201cuncalculated withdrawal could certainly give an opportunity for those terrorists … to threaten the world,\u201d he said from inside the compound, protected by concrete blast walls, barbed wire and a phalanx of security guards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The warning comes as Washington is reviewing a deal the Trump administration struck with the Taliban<\/a> over a year ago that calls for the withdrawal of the remaining 2,500 U.S. troops by May 1. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That deal also calls for the Taliban to break ties with terrorist groups, like al-Qaida. U.S. officials have previously said some progress has been seen but more was needed, without elaborating.<\/p>\n\n\n\t