WASHINGTON – The Taliban have not yet met conditions required for a complete U.S. troop withdrawal from Afghanistan by next May as envisioned in a U.S.-Taliban deal signed in February, the commander overseeing U.S.
forces there said Wednesday.Gen. Frank McKenzie, head of U.S. Central Command, said the U.S. is ahead of schedule for an initial drawdown by July to 8,600 troops.
Another U.S. official, who was not authorized to discuss details and so spoke on condition of anonymity, said troop levels are now below 9,000, compared with about 12,000 in February.McKenzie stressed, however, that going to zero troops by May is dependent on conditions."Those conditions would be: Can we be assured that attacks against us will not be generated there?.