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Task & Purpose | Exclusive: US-Taliban ceasefire to begin on Feb. 22
The 7-day "reduction in violence" negotiated between the United States and the Taliban is set to begin on Feb. 22, an Afghan government official who spoke on condition of anonymity told Task & Purpose on Monday.
A temporary truce beginning on Saturday that would last for one week is seen as a crucial test between the Taliban, U.S., and Afghan governments that would prove all parties to a potential peace deal can control their forces. Defense Secretary Mark Esper declined to confirm the date on Sunday.
"That is a moving date because we are still doing consultations, if you will," Defense Secretary Mark Esper told reporters.
The temporary truce is part of efforts to reach a peace agreement with the Taliban that would pave the way for the U.S. military to reduce its footprint in Afghanistan to a residual counter-terrorism force of about 8,600 troops, Esper said.
Breitbart | U.S Watchdog: Afghan Special Operations Forces Partnering More with U.S. Forces in Operations
Members of the Afghan Special Security Forces (ASSF) — the country’s primary fighting unit against the Taliban — are partnering more with American and coalition forces instead of becoming independent, a U.S. government watchdog testified recently.
Special Inspector General of Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) John Sopko testified during a February 11 Senate hearing that the ASSF are conducting fewer missions by themselves, despite the spending of hundreds of millions of U.S. taxpayer dollars to train them.
“We’ve put a lot of money in that. But the number of independent missions that the Afghan special forces are doing has gone down,” he said Tuesday during the hearing, which was convened by Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY). |
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