KABUL: Taliban insurgents Wednesday denounced US plans to keep troops in Afghanistan until the end of 2016, threatening to wage war against the "occupation" until the very last foreign soldier pulls out.
Outlining the US strategy to end America´s longest war, 15 years after the September 11 attacks, President Barack Obama confirmed Tuesday that the 32,000-strong US deployment in Afghanistan would be scaled back to around 9,800 by the start of 2015.Those forces would be halved by the end of 2015 before eventually being reduced to a normal embassy presence with a security assistance component by the end of 2016.
Taliban insurgents responded to Obama´s announcement by ruling out an end to fighting until a complete withdrawal of US forces had taken place -- a grim indicator that Afghanistan´s long, bloody war is far from over.
"Now that Obama has announced that he will keep around 10,000 troops until the end of 2016 and continue their occupation, Afghanistan Islamic Emirate condemns it and considers it a violation of sovereignty, religion and human rights," said a Taliban statement.
The statement, which used the insurgents´ name for the country, appeared to inflate the number of troops scheduled to remain under Obama´s plan.
"The American leaders should do now what they plan to do two years later. Even if one American soldier is in Afghanistan, it is not acceptable to our nation and jihad (holy war) will continue against them."
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