US hands over base to Afghan National Army as withdrawal continues
05 May, 2021
The US handed over a military base in southern Afghanistan on Monday even while Afghan and Taliban forces clashed in the same area.
“The US has officially paid to the Afghan National Army one facility - New Antonik,” US Central Command (Centcom) said.
The Afghan Defence Ministry said the clashes in southern Helmand province, where in fact the base is based, have left more than 100 Taliban fighters dead. The Taliban as well captured an Afghan base in the Ghazni province on Saturday.
But Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said the clashes have not damaged the US withdrawal, which continues to be in its first stages.
Mr Kirby characterised the clashes as “tiny harassing attacks during the period of the weekend that contain not had any sort of significant impact, definitely not on our persons or on our methods there".
Centcom said it has up to now completed between two and 6 % of the withdrawal procedure, removing “approximately 60 C-17 plenty of materials out of Afghanistan,” even while turning over “a lot more than 1,300 devices to the Defence Logistics Firm for destruction".
President Joe Biden offers vowed that the US might complete the withdrawal by September 11, officially closing American involvement in the 20-season conflict - the longest battle in US history. There are roughly 3,500 US troops in Afghanistan serving in the Nato forces, which number roughly 10,000.
The Taliban has expressed its displeasure that the US didn't depart by the May 1 deadline decided to as part of negotiations in Qatar last year, and has threatened to release attacks on US and Nato forces.
The Taliban also boycotted a round of peace talks hosted by Turkey the other day.
Source: www.thenationalnews.com
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