Rapid US troop pullout could provoke major civil war in Afghanistan: ICG

“All sides understand that a rapid pullout could provoke a major new civil war, an outcome nobody, including the Taliban, wants,” ICG said.
According to ICG, US’s signal that it is ready to pull out could advance diplomatic efforts to end the war by focusing belligerents’and regional actors’ minds, but “the ad hoc nature of the decision—seemingly made without looping in top officials—and the spectre it raises of the U.S. cutting and running could bode badly for the coming year.”
Neighbouring countries and others involved in Afghanistan – notably Iran, Pakistan, Russia, and China – all want the Americans out eventually, but none of them wants a precipitous withdrawal, ICG said.
US media recently said that President Donald Trump had decided to withdraw half of American troops from Afghanistan, although the White House denied it.
Meanwhile, a former German official has said that his country could end its military mission in Afghanistan if the US pulls out its troops.
"If the United States reduces itself to a small contingent in Afghanistan there's no reason for us to continue the mission anymore," retired General Harald Kujat, inspector general of the German military between 2000 and 2002, said.