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Afghan soldiers during a NATO-directed anti-terrorist exercise
Photo: JALIL REZAYEE / EPA-EFE / Shutterstock
The USA currently has 4,500 soldiers stationed in Afghanistan, now US President Trump wants to reduce the force to 2,500, according to media reports.
Should this happen, Afghanists could "become a platform for international terrorists to plan attacks on our home countries", warns NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.
Stoltenberg is critical of Trump's plans to reduce the number of US troops in Afghanistan: "The price of an early or uncoordinated withdrawal could be very high." The decision about a withdrawal is difficult, according to the NATO Secretary General.
NATO will soon be in Afghanistan for 20 years and nobody wants to stay longer than necessary.
But a hasty troop withdrawal could enable terrorist groups to regain a foothold.
"ISIS could rebuild the terror caliphate in Afghanistan that it lost in Iraq and Syria," said Stoltenberg.
Almost 20 years of the Afghan war
The war in Afghanistan is the longest in US history.
American soldiers - and other NATO member states - have been in the country since 2001.
After the 9/11 attacks, US-led troops marched in there.
The Bundeswehr is currently represented in the north of the country with around 1,000 soldiers.
For almost two decades, Islamists in Afghanistan have been fighting for the withdrawal of international troops.
According to Stoltenberg, more than a thousand soldiers have died in the operation so far.
Most recently, the United States signed an agreement with the militant Islamist Taliban at the end of February that promises the gradual withdrawal of all US and NATO forces by the end of 2021.
In return, the Taliban committed, among other things, to peace talks with the Afghan government, which began in September.
However, the process had recently stalled.
Trump now wants to create facts before the end of his term in January, according to reports from the US media.
Commanders were preparing for an order to reduce the number of soldiers in Afghanistan by January 15, the broadcaster CNN reported on Monday, before more media followed suit.
The White House referred to the Pentagon upon request.
There, too, there was initially no confirmation for the reports.
Leading Republicans in the US Congress warned against hasty action.
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mrc / dpa / AFP / AP