7 conditions. Confirmed by General Milley in sworn testimony.
when Ambassador [inaudible 00:25:30] signed the Doha agreement with Mullah Baradar on 29, February, 2020, the United States had 12,600 troops with 8,000 NATO and 10,500 contractors in Afghanistan. This has been a 10 year multi administration draw down, not a 19 month retrograde or 17 day non-combatant evacuation operation. Under the Doha agreement,
the United States would begin to withdraw its forces contingent upon the Taliban meeting certain conditions, which would lead to a political agreement between the Taliban and the government of Afghanistan.
There were seven conditions applicable to the Taliban and eight to the United States. While the Taliban did not attack the United States forces, which was one of the conditions, it failed to fully honor any other condition under the Doha agreement. And perhaps most importantly, for the United States national security, the Taliban has never renounced their linkages with Al Qaeda or broke their affiliation with them.
General Milley: (
26:33)
We, the United States adhered to every condition. In the fall of 2020, my analysis then was that an accelerated withdrawal without meeting specific and necessary conditions risks losing the substantial gains made in Afghanistan, would potentially damage US worldwide credibility and could precipitate a general collapse of the Afghan security forces and the Afghan government, resulting in a complete Taliban takeover or a general civil war. T