Taliban Demands Turkey to Withdraw Forces from Afghanistan

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The Taliban urged Turkey to withdraw its forces from Afghanistan because it is a NATO member.

Taliban Spokesperson Suhail Shaheen expressed his hope that Turkey and Afghanistan will have a close relationship after a new Islamic government is formed in the country, according to Tolo News.

The Movement's request for Turkey to withdraw its forces from Afghanistan came after Ankara and Washington agreed to secure the Hamid Karzai International Airport using Turkish forces.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani announced on Thursday that his country is facing a difficult transitional phase while US forces are completing their withdrawal, but he stressed that government forces are capable of confronting the Taliban. 

Ghani said, in a speech in Kabul, "We are witnessing one of the most complex transitions on the face of the earth," while violent confrontations erupted between Taliban militants and the army for control of the capital of a western province.

Fighting intensified last week between the Taliban and the Afghan army in the city of Qala-e-Naw, and plumes of black smoke rose over the capital of the Afghani Badghis province.

The government announced that it would be sending hundreds of commandos by helicopter to Badghis to counter the Taliban's attack, which was the first major attack on the capital of one of the provinces since the latest stage of US forces withdrawal.

In turn, US President Joe Biden expressed his confidence in the Afghan army on Thursday and considered that the Taliban's control of the country was not inevitable. 

In a remark that Joe Biden made to the press at the White House, he said, "Do I trust the Taliban? No. But I trust the capacity of the Afghan military, who is better trained, better equipped, and more competent in terms of conducting war."

Answering a question by a reporter, who asked, "Is a Taliban takeover of Afghanistan now inevitable?" US President Joe Biden said, "No, it is not."

Our military mission in Afghanistan will conclude on August 31st. "The drawdown is proceeding in a secure and orderly way, prioritizing the safety of our troops as they depart," he said.

Biden also stated that the United States "did what we went to do in Afghanistan," which was, assumably, fighting the terrorist threat.

Biden's words came after the US military announced that its withdrawal from Afghanistan is more than 90% done.