US to coordinate with NATO on troop withdrawal from Afghanistan

The World
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg (R) and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken are shown standing opposite each other with the US and NATO flags in the background.

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US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin are meeting with NATO officials in Brussels to discuss a withdrawal of the military alliance from Afghanistan, after two decades of war. President Biden is expected to announce later on Wednesday the symbolic date of Sept. 11 as a new deadline to pull US troops out of Afghanistan.

Blinken said despite the withdrawal, neither the US nor NATO are abandoning Afghanistan, where approximately 7,000 NATO forces and an additional 2,500 US troops remain. “Together, we went into Afghanistan to deal with those who attacked us ..., ” Blinken said. “And together, we have achieved the goals that we set out to achieve. And now it is time to bring our forces home.”

The Trump administration had previously set a deadline for withdrawal for US troops from Afghanistan for May 1, but The World’s Shirin Jaafari reports (🎧) that as the date approached, it became clear that the withdrawal was improbable. 

With the forthcoming withdrawal, many are anxious about what this could mean for Afghanistan’s future in terms of security. Who is going to govern Afghanistan if there is no peace agreement? Will the country descend into civil war? These are just some of the questions on the minds of many Afghans these days.

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In case you missed it

Listen: Biden announces deadline for pulling US troops out of Afghanistan

A man is shown among a crowd of protesters wearing a dark jacket, hat and face mask with his right hand in the air.

People chant slogans against the government's decision to start releasing massive amounts of treated radioactive water from the wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant into the sea, during a rally outside the prime minister's office in Tokyo, April 13, 2021.

Credit:

Eugene Hoshiko/AP

President Joe Biden announced a new deadline to pull American troops out of Afghanistan for Sept. 11, 2021. It's an important development in the push to end a nearly 20-year war. And, the tension between Russia and Ukraine continues to build as tens of thousands of Russian troops have amassed along Ukraine's border. Now Ukraine, the US and Europe are on alert. Also, the government of Japan announced on Tuesday plans to release treated radioactive water from the wrecked Fukushima nuclear power plant into the Pacific Ocean.

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