Kabul on high alert midst ‘deadline’ for U.S. troop pullout from Afghanistan

On Saturday, the commander of foreign forces in Afghanistan cautioned insurgents that attacking foreign troops still present in the country after the May 1 deadline for withdrawal agreed upon last year with Taliban militants would be a mistake.

General Scott Miller of the United States Army made his remarks after what a spokesman for the US forces characterised as "ineffective indirect fire" at a Kandahar airfield that resulted in no casualties or damage. A request for comment from the Taliban on whether it was involved in the incident was not immediately returned.

International forces were to leave the country by 1st May under a February 2020 agreement between former US President Donald Trump's administration and the Taliban, and the hardline Islamist party was to refrain from targeting foreign troops and bases. However, following a review of the situation, US President Joe Biden declared last month that US forces would remain in the country for several months after May, withdrawing by 11th September.

On Saturday, Kabul was braced for a Taliban retaliation, with a visible rise in military presence and security at checkpoints. According to a security source, the Afghan capital is on "high alert," and military patrols and security in major cities across the country have been increased.

General Miller said it would be a mistake to target foreign troops in a video posted to Twitter by a spokesman for US Forces in Afghanistan following Saturday's incident in Kandahar. He said, "Make no mistake, we have the military capabilities to react forcefully to any form of attack against the coalition, as well as the military capabilities to support (Afghan) security forces".

In recent weeks, violence against Afghans has increased, with more than a hundred Afghan security forces personnel killed. A massive blast killed dozens of people in eastern Logar on Friday as they broke their fast during the holy Islamic month of Ramadan.

The perpetrators of the attack were not identified, but the government blamed the Taliban, who said they were investigating the incident.

The Taliban reacted angrily to the Biden administration's move with vehement rhetoric and threats of retaliation, boycotting a critical conference in Turkey scheduled for last month to kick-start stalled Afghan peace talks.

According to official and Taliban sources, communications have been maintained in an attempt to get the Taliban back to the negotiating table and agree to an extended international troop presence, but no decision on an extension had been made by Saturday.

The passing of the deadline, as per Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid, meant that "this breach in principle has opened the way for (Taliban fighters) to take any counter-action it considers necessary against the occupying forces."

However, he added that fighters were awaiting the Taliban leadership's decision.

If foreign forces are threatened while carrying out the withdrawal, Washington has warned that they will protect themselves "with all the resources at our disposal."

Experts said the Taliban's threats should be taken seriously, but that full-scale attacks against international targets could be avoided if the Taliban continued to negotiate.

According to reports, there was a flurry of meetings leading up to May 1 as talks with the Taliban over the deadline extension proceeded. A Taliban spokesman said on Friday that the US special envoy for Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad, had met with the Taliban's head of political office, Mullah Baradar, in Doha.

Envoys from Russia, China, Pakistan, and the United States met with Taliban officials and Afghan government negotiators in the Qatari capital on Friday, the eve of the negotiated deadline. The Taliban stated that they addressed the peace process as well as their request to have Taliban leaders excluded from sanction lists. Sources also said a delegation of Taliban political leaders had been in Pakistan's capital Islamabad this week.

Negotiations had revolved around the proposed deadline extension in exchange for the US not getting involved in Afghan military operations against the Taliban, getting the Taliban to commit to re-joining the Turkey conference if they were given an agenda on what would be discussed there, and possibly declaring a ceasefire over the issue, according to two Taliban sources and one official source.

Pakistan's foreign ministry did not respond to a request for comment right away.