Biden to share new withdrawal plan with Ghani in near future: Top Afghan official

Kabul [Afghanistan], April 14 : US President Joe Biden is expected to talk to Afghan President Ashraf Ghani in the near future to officially share details of the new withdrawal plan from Afghanistan, said Waheed Omer, Director General, Office of Public and Strategic Affairs, Government of Afghanistan.
"US troop withdrawal has been discussed between the US and Afghan governments repeatedly in the past. President Biden is expected to talk to President Ghani in the near future to officially share details of the new withdrawal plan. Till then, we will not comment on the details," Omer tweeted.
"That said, we will respect any decision taken by the US government with regards to their troops. ANSDF has been defending our people with high moral past 2 years and have recently conducted close to 98% of operations independently. They are fully capable of doing that in the future," Omer said in a subsequent tweet.
This statement comes after a senior Biden administration official said on Tuesday that the United States is ending the war in Afghanistan after 20 years and will complete the withdrawal of American troops from the country before this year's anniversary of the September 11 terror attacks.
Biden made the decision following an extensive policy review, which began upon assuming office earlier this year, the official said.
"After a rigorous policy review, President Biden decided to draw down remaining US troops from Afghanistan and finally end the US war there after 20 years," the senior official told reporters. "We will begin an orderly drawdown of the remaining forces before May 1 and plan to have all US troops out of the country before the twentieth anniversary of 9/11."
Meanwhile, the Taliban have rejected the United States' plan to restore peace in Afghanistan as well as the proposed six-month delay in the withdrawal of the American troops.
The message was published in English on the Taliban's Voice of Jihad website, which produces media in multiple languages for the group's Islamic Emirate, according to American news website FDD's Long War Journal.
"The Islamic Emirate responded firmly to Biden's comments and announced that if the occupying forces do not leave by the agreed-upon date, then attacks shall resume," the Taliban warns, repeating an earlier threat to attack American and NATO forces should they fail to depart by May 1.
Last week, a US intelligence report had said that prospects for a peace deal will remain low during the next year.
"The Taliban is likely to make gains on the battlefield, and the Afghan Government will struggle to hold the Taliban at bay if the coalition withdraws support. Kabul continues to face setbacks on the battlefield, and the Taliban is confident it can achieve military victory," the report on worldwide threats assessment by the US' Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) had said.
The report had further said Afghan forces continue to secure major cities and other government strongholds, but they remain tied down in defensive missions and have struggled to hold recaptured territory or reestablish a presence in areas abandoned in 2020.
Former US President Donald Trump had set a May 1 deadline to withdraw from Afghanistan but the effort has been complicated by logistical issues, according to the senior Biden administration officials.
Biden is expected to make the official announcement on Wednesday, with the focus turning towards readjusting the US global threat assessment calibration.