U.S. ‘on path’ to slash troop number in Afghanistan to 5,000 or fewer by this fall: Zalmay Khalilzad

Violence in Afghanistan remains unacceptably high even as formal peace talks with the Taliban have begun, President Trump’s special envoy to the conflict told a congressional hearing Tuesday.

In his first extended public remarks on the peace deal he helped fashion, special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad told the House Oversight subcommittee on national security that there remained a milestone opportunity to end two decades of war in Afghanistan and bring home thousands of American troops, even though Monday saw the Kabul government reporting the death of 57 soldiers in clashes with insurgents — the highest toll since the talks began.

“By any measure the current level of violence are too high,” Mr. Khalilzad said, saying it was the Trump administration’s “expectation” that both the Taliban and the U.S.-backed Kabul government would try to minimize the fighting as the talks proceeded. He said it was the Taliban, a radical Islamist movement, that bore much of the blame.

In order for progress to continue, “the Taliban must reduce violence against the Afghan security forces and Afghan civilians,” Mr. Khalilzad said. “Taliban violence quite frankly has been unacceptably high for too long.”

Mr. Trump has pressed for the talks as he seeks to fulfill a campaign commitment to draw down American forces. There were some 13,000 U.S. combat troops before the February U.S.-Taliban accord, and Mr. Khalilzad told the panel that the Pentagon is on track to reduce that number to between 4,000 and 5,000 by the end of November. Critics say Mr. Trump has pursued the troop withdrawal without tying it to progress toward a permanent power-sharing deal acceptable to Kabul.

Some lawmakers weren’t buying the administration’s hopeful take. Rep. Tom Malinowski, New Jersey Democrat, told Mr. Khalilzad that confidence in the Taliban’s progress is “incredibly naive.”

“The only thing that they promised to do is to stop shooting at us as we leave,” he said. “… We’re all for peace. What you’re selling us is not peace. It is a fairy tale to make us feel better about leaving Afghanistan.”

Abdullah Abdullah, lead negotiator for the government of Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, also complained about the level of violence since the talks began, and told a Council on Foreign Relations webinar Tuesday some released Taliban prisoners have returned to the battlefield.

While the tone of the talks in Doha, Qatar, have been positive, Mr. Abdullah said, “Unfortunately, so far, the level of violence is very high and to a level that is not acceptable for the people.” He added that the U.S. and Pakistan, which has long had ties to the Afghan insurgency, should do more to pressure the Taliban to cease attacks.

Under the agreement, the Taliban vowed to no longer harbor or aid any outside terrorist groups, such as al Qaeda and the Islamic State, and agreed to halt attacks on U.S. personnel. Mr. Khalilzad said the Taliban has honored the pledge not to attack U.S. or coalition forces, and no American service member has been killed in the country since the accord was signed Feb. 29.

While U.S. commanders talk of a full drawdown of combat troops by mid 2021, Mr. Khalilzad said that “further withdrawals will be determined based on conditions on the ground and delivery by the Taliban on their commitments.”