Trump's Afghan Exit Plan Ignores Thousands Of US Contractors - Ex-Pentagon Official

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 04th September, 2019) President Donald Trump's withdrawal plan for the US military from Afghanistan fails to address the almost 15,000 estimated military contractors or mercenaries operating in the country, former Defense Department analyst Chuck Spinney told Sputnik.

The ninth round of peace talks between the United States and the Taliban in the Qatari capital of Doha finished on Sunday. On Monday, US envoy Zalmay Khalilzad said an agreement had been struck wherein the United States would withdraw some 5,000 troops and close five bases in Afghanistan within the next 135 days.

"Note that, in addition to not saying anything about the remaining US troops in Afghanistan, [Khalilzad] says nothing about withdrawing US contractors or the defense Dollars supporting them," Spinney, who retired after 30 years as a Pentagon military analyst, said on Tuesday.

"I have been told that these contractors, many of whom are US citizens and ex-US military, almost equal the number of US military in-country."

Spinney also observed that the insurgents' pledge to ensure terrorists do not operate from Afghan territory sounds just like the promise Taliban leader Mullah Omar made to the Bush administration in June of 2001.

US and Taliban officials had been negotiating a deal that would entail the withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghanistan in exchange for the Taliban's promise to cut ties to terrorist organizations and a guarantee that the country would not be used as a safe haven for terrorists.

The talks have excluded the Afghan government since the Taliban consider it a US puppet.