America’s top general in Afghanistan said Sunday that the U.S. military has already begun closing down operations in the country in preparation for a full withdrawal.
“All of our forces are now preparing to retrograde,” Army Gen. Austin Miller told Afghan journalists at a press conference in the capital, Kabul.
Miller added that the official notification date for the withdrawal would be May 1, but added that “as we start taking local actions, we’ve already begun that.”
The general told reporters that he is often asked whether Afghan security forces can do the work in the absence of U.S. and other foreign troops.
“My message has always been the same. They must be ready. They must be ready,” Miller said, according to RFE/RL.
