{"id":117818,"date":"2021-04-16T21:15:59","date_gmt":"2021-04-16T21:15:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/uncategorized\/2021\/04\/16\/afghanistan-withdrawal-plan-could-involve-small-troop-surge\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T13:44:59","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T13:44:59","slug":"afghanistan-withdrawal-plan-could-involve-small-troop-surge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/news\/your-military\/2021\/04\/16\/afghanistan-withdrawal-plan-could-involve-small-troop-surge\/","title":{"rendered":"Afghanistan withdrawal plan could involve small troop surge"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Pentagon is pulling out its old Afghanistan drawdown plans<\/a> and reworking them for a Sept. 11 deadline<\/a>, per President Joe Biden\u2019s announcement of the end of Operation Resolute Support on Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 2,500 troops deployed to that country may see some back-up arriving to help with removing equipment, shutting down operations centers and maintaining security<\/a> as the Taliban seeks to take advantage of their focus on closing up shop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI can\u2019t speak with great specificity right now … but it is not out of the realm of the possible that for a short period of time, there will have to be some additional enabling capabilities added to Afghanistan to, again, help effect a safe, orderly and deliberately planned drawdown of everybody by the president\u2019s deadline,\u201d Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told reporters Friday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More specific tasking will be coming out closer to the end of the month, he added, but he could not specify a deadline for the withdrawal plan, which will be set into motion on May 1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cObviously, everybody understands the need to move with some alacrity here,\u201d Kirby said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For roughly the past year, U.S. troops and the Taliban have been in what amounts to a ceasefire, as part of the conditions of a previously negotiated peace agreement<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During that time, U.S. forces drew down to 8,000 and then 2,500 in November, keeping up with both train-advise-assist and counterterror missions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During that time, not one American service member has died during combat operations in Afghanistan, either at the hands of the Taliban or while fighting ISIS-K, that country\u2019s local Islamic State faction, as attacks on U.S. troops have subsided.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That is likely to change, as the Biden administrations Sept. 11 deadline violates the Trump administration\u2019s planned May 1 withdrawal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf the [Doha] agreement is breached and foreign forces fail to exit our country on the specified date, problems will certainly be compounded and those whom failed to comply with the agreement will be held liable,\u201d Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid tweeted Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many U.S. troops in the country have been living on Afghan National Army bases and working alongside those forces to push back against the Taliban, leaving them in a vulnerable position as they prepare to return home.<\/p>\n\n\n\t