Joint Chiefs chair floats longer military presence in Afghanistan
The United States will need U.S. troops to stay in Afghanistan for the foreseeable future to act as a counterterrorism force until all insurgency is removed, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said Wednesday.
Gen. Joseph Dunford told lawmakers at the Capitol that the United States will “need to maintain a counterterrorism presence as long as an insurgency continues in Afghanistan.”
The United States is in the midst of peace talks with the Taliban to negotiate an end to the nearly 18-year war.
The Trump administration hopes negotiations will lead to a withdrawal of U.S. troops in exchange for the Taliban agreeing to not harbor terrorist organizations that could threaten U.S. security, though the talks appeared to stall in recent weeks and have been met with bipartisan skepticism on Capitol Hill.
Dunford said there are still 20 extremist groups in the Afghanistan region, and “a handful” have said they want to attack the United States.
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