A United States Air Force long-range bomber, the B-52 Stratofortress. (Photo: U.S. Air National Guard)
Washington, April 24 (RHC)-- The Pentagon is sending a number of long-range B-52 bombers and additional troops to Afghanistan and boosting its presence in the Middle East region, according to an announcement by Washington.
Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told reporters in the U.S. capital that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has approved the addition of several B-52 bombers to Afghanistan, and will keep the aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower in the Persian Gulf.
The Pentagon claimed that the military build-up in the region is part of its full troop withdrawal from Afghanistan. "It would be foolhardy and imprudent not to assume that there could be resistance and opposition from the Taliban," Kirby said. "We're going to make this a safe orderly deliberate and responsible" withdrawal.
Kirby also said the Pentagon might also deploy additional ground forces to Afghanistan, for logistics support and force protection. The news comes days after U.S. President Joe Biden announced that Washington would withdraw troops from Afghanistan by September 11th, twenty years after the U.S. launched its longest war against the impoverished country.
The U.S. invaded Afghanistan in October 2001 under the pretext of the so-called war against terror. Washington has spent more than trillions of dollars waging war on the impoverished country, which has left thousands of Afghan civilians and American soldiers dead.
Under a February 2020 “peace” deal between the Taliban and the Trump administration, Washington vowed to withdraw all 2,500 U.S. troops remaining in Afghanistan. In return, the Taliban pledged to stop attacks on U.S. troops.
The Taliban have said the United States has breached its agreement with the group for the troop withdrawal from Afghanistan. Mohammed Naeem Wardak, spokesman for the Taliban's political office in Doha, told Press TV in an interview last week that Washington has failed to abide by its commitments and respect pledges under the 2020 peace deal with the group.
