Ariana News Agency-\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n The top US commander for the region said it cut the number of troops to around 8,600 in line with a deal agreed with the insurgents in February, but warned conditions must be met for a full withdrawal by next year.<\/p>\n General Kenneth McKenzie, the head of US Central Command, said “conditions would have to be met that satisfy us — that attacks against our homeland are not going to be generated from Afghanistan”.<\/p>\n McKenzie said the Taliban were “no friends” of the Islamic State group, but that it needs to see “deeds and not words” about what they would do against al-Qaeda — the group responsible for the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington.<\/p>\n “And so we’re very focused on what the Taliban is doing, how they’re participating in these negotiations as we go forward,” he told a panel discussion hosted by the Aspen Institute on Thursday. “The jury is still very much out.”<\/p>\n The Taliban on Friday said it was committed to the February deal, “especially the US and the West’s concern about a threat to them from Afghanistan”.<\/p>\n “Our country will not be used against anyone. They should not be concerned,” Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told AFP.<\/p>\n The February deal calls for all US and foreign troops to withdraw from Afghanistan by mid-2021, nearly 20 years after Washington invaded the country following the September 11 attacks.<\/p>\n Under the agreement, the United States said it would pull out all troops in return for security guarantees from the insurgents and a pledge to hold peace negotiations with the Afghan government in Kabul.<\/p>\n However, a recent expert report to the UN Security Council said that Al-Qaeda and the Taliban “remain close” and were in regular consultations over the negotiations with the United States.<\/p>\n The Afghan government which has moved closer to talks with the Taliban in recent weeks, has long accused the insurgents of providing a platform to groups such as IS and Al-Qaeda to carry out attacks in the country.<\/p>\n President Donald Trump, who is running for re-election in November, has said repeatedly that he wants US troops out of Afghanistan as soon as possible.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Taliban express concerns that Afghanistan could be used as a launching ground for future attacks on the West, after the US said it had so far upheld its pledge to reduce its military presence in the country.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5489,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_mat_hreflang_tags":[],"addvideo":"","video_duration":"","farsit":"","target":"0","top_stories":"0","top":"1"},"categories":[2,7,12],"tags":[226,688,32,231],"class_list":["post-5488","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-afghanistan","category-politics","category-security","tag-afghanistan-war","tag-peace-deal","tag-taliban","tag-us-troops"],"acf":{"myctype":"change","target":false,"top_stories":false,"top":true,"farsit":""},"yoast_head":"\n