KABUL, Afghanistan -- The U.S. military has begun its complete withdrawal from Afghanistan, the top U.S. commander there said Sunday, marking what amounts to the beginning of the end of the United States' nearly 20-year-old war in the country.
"I now have a set of orders," said Gen. Austin Miller, head of the U.S.-led coalition in Afghanistan, at a news conference of Afghan journalists at the U.S. military's headquarters in Kabul. "We will conduct an orderly withdrawal from Afghanistan, and that means transitioning bases and equipment to the Afghan security forces."
Miller's remarks come almost two weeks after President Joe Biden announced that all U.S. forces would be out of the country by Sept. 11, the 20th anniversary of the terrorist attacks that propelled the United States into its long war in Afghanistan.
Biden's announcement was greeted with uncertainty in Afghanistan, as it prepares for a future without a U.S. and NATO military presence despite a Taliban insurgency that seems dead-set on a military victory despite talks of peace.
The insurgent group's harsh version of Islamic law, which barred women from many jobs during its rule in the late 1990s and banned music and dance, among other arts, will probably return if the Taliban reassumes power -- either through force or if they are incorporated into the government.
Holding the line for now are the Afghan security forces, which have endured a particularly difficult winter. Taliban offensives in the south and repeated attacks in the north despite the cold weather have meant mounting casualties ahead of what could be a violent summer as U.S. and NATO forces withdraw. Although the Afghan military and police forces together are said to have around 300,000 personnel, the real number is thought to be much lower.
"I often get asked how are the security forces? Can the security forces do the work in our absence?" Miller said. "And my message has always been the same: They must be ready."
Miller added that certain equipment must be withdrawn from Afghanistan, "but wherever possible" the United States and international forces will leave behind materiel for the Afghan forces.
There are roughly 3,500 U.S. troops in Afghanistan and around 7,000 NATO and allied forces. Those NATO forces will probably withdraw alongside the United States, as many countries in the coalition are dependent on U.S. support. New Zealand plans to withdraw its last troops from Afghanistan in May and Australia in September in line with the U.S.
Australian Defense Minister Peter Dutton said the withdrawal will allow Australia to focus on its own region, where China is changing the security environment.
"Our focus now ... is to our own region, to providing support to our near neighbors," Dutton told Nine Network television, referring to natural disaster and pandemic relief.
"We need to recognize our region is changing. China is militarizing ports across our region. We need to deal with all of that, and that's exactly what we're now focused on," Dutton added.
Atop the international military forces in Afghanistan, there are roughly 18,000 contractors in the country, almost all of whom will also depart. Miller said some of the contracts "will have to be adjusted" so that the Afghan security forces, which are heavily dependent on contractor assistance -- especially the Afghan air force -- will continue to be supported. The private contractors are tasked with a range of jobs, including security, logistics and aircraft maintenance.
Under last year's peace agreement with the Taliban, U.S. and international forces were supposed to withdraw by May 1. In February last year, the U.S. military began closing its smaller bases.
Under the agreement, the Taliban have refrained for the most part from attacking U.S. troops. But what remains unclear is if the insurgent group will attack the withdrawing forces following Biden's decision to set the final deadline later, in September.
"We have the military means and capability to fully protect our force during retrograde, as well as support the Afghan security forces," Miller said.
U.S. troops are still spread out in a constellation of around a dozen bases, most of which contain small groups of Special Operations forces advising the Afghan military. To cover the withdrawal, the U.S. military has committed a significant amount of air support, including positioning an aircraft carrier in the Persian Gulf.
PEACE PROSPECTS UNCLEAR
Just hours before Miller's comments, Taliban negotiator Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai appeared to indicate a breakthrough in the peace negotiations.
In a terse tweet, Stanikzai said "soon the Taliban leaders name will be removed from blacklist. And 7,000 Taliban prisoners will be released."
Stanikazai made no mention of a cease-fire, and there was no immediate comment from Afghanistan's Council for National Reconciliation headed by Abdullah Abdullah.
The Afghan government under President Ashraf Ghani has until now refused to release any more Taliban prisoners, charging that the 5,000 his government released last year were at least in part responsible for stepped-up violence, having returned to the battlefield. The Taliban deny that.
The 5,000 prisoners were released in keeping with the peace deal the Trump administration negotiated with the Taliban, which the Biden administration reviewed and has largely followed.
Meanwhile, peace talks between the Taliban and Afghan government which were to begin in Turkey this weekend were canceled after the Islamic militia dismissed the U.S.-promoted conference in Istanbul as a political spectacle serving American interests.
"From a purely military perspective, the idea of them not returning to a peace process is, again, does not make sense," Miller said. "A return to violence would be, one, senseless, and tragic."
Information for this article was contributed by Thomas Gibbons-Neff of The New York Times; and by Kathy Gannon and Rod McGuirk of The Associated Press.