国防部长劳埃德·奥斯汀突然造访阿富汗周日，5月1日是所有美国军队可能从该国撤军的最后期限。最后期限是去年与美国达成的和平协议的一部分塔利班。
乔·拜登总统还没有决定据一名美国官员说，是否撤出2500名美国士兵，并正在考虑他们是否应该在阿富汗再呆六个月。
在作为国防部长首次访问阿富汗时，奥斯丁会见了阿富汗总统阿什拉夫·加尼和美国驻阿富汗最高指挥官斯科特·米勒将军。
奥斯汀的访问是在严格的安全限制下进行的，陪同奥斯汀的记者被要求在他离开该国之前不要报道这次访问。
此次访问正值拜登必须尽快决定是否所有的美国军队都将按照2005年的协议离开阿富汗和平协议特朗普政府去年与塔利班达成了协议。
在本周早些时候的独家采访中，拜登告诉美国广播公司新闻记者乔治·斯特凡诺普洛斯，撤军“可能会发生，但很艰难。”拜登补充说，如果最后期限延长，不会“延长很多”
拜登告诉斯特凡诺普洛斯:“我正在决定他们什么时候离开。”。“事实是，这并不是前总统总统达成的非常稳固的协议。因此，我们正在与我们的盟友以及政府进行磋商，这个决定将会——现在正在进行之中。”
Hoshang Hashimi/AP，FILE
2012年1月28日，美国士兵在阿富汗喀布尔西部巡逻。
据一名美国官员称，拜登仍在考虑美国军事官员向他提出的选择，包括在5月1日截止日期之前或附近撤出所有美国军队，无限期地将军队留在那里，或者将他们再留在那里六个月到11月。
就在周五，白宫官员强调，拜登尚未决定是否遵守与塔利班协议规定的最后期限。
拜登面临的困境是，尽管塔利班坚持协议，没有攻击美国军队，但它大幅增加了对阿富汗安全部队的攻击次数。
观察家认为，塔利班对阿富汗军队的袭击是他们在与加尼政府长期停滞的和平谈判中获得杠杆作用的一种方式。
奥斯汀今年2月对记者表示:“显然，目前的暴力程度太高，阿富汗主导的谈判需要取得更多进展。”。“因此，我敦促所有各方选择通往和平的道路。现在暴力必须减少。”
当时，奥斯汀还向北约盟国保证，“无论我们的审查结果如何，美国都不会仓促或无序地从阿富汗撤军，以免危及他们的部队或联盟的声誉。”
托马斯·沃特金斯/法新社，通过盖蒂图像，文件
美国士兵在西尼尔克区的阿富汗国家军队检查站的山坡上眺望
“美国没有义务遵守5月的时间表，”前负责中东事务的副助理国防部长、美国广播公司新闻撰稿人米克·马尔罗伊(Mick Mulroy)表示。他指出，塔利班的袭击表明，美国没有遵守和平协议。
“对需要多少军队及其持续时间的评估应该基于实地的事实，”马尔罗伊说。“我们都希望看到阿富汗冲突结束，我们的部队返回家园，但我们不想失去我们在这个过程中如此努力争取的一切。我们不应该离开，只是为了回来，为了达到今天的成就而奋斗。”
最近几周，拜登政府试图通过推动塔利班和阿富汗政府之间的永久停火和权力分享协议来启动和平谈判。
在给加尼的信中，后来被泄露了美国国务卿安东尼·布林肯(Antony Blinken)阐述了该倡议的目标，并警告称，拜登仍在考虑全面撤军。
离可能的撤军日期还有40天，撤军计划和短期内的情况正在分秒必争。
拉赫马特·古尔/美联社，档案
2017年11月30日，阿富汗卢格尔省，美国士兵在停机坪上等待。
此外，尽管五角大楼称美国在阿富汗的正式驻军人数为2500人，纽约时报最近据报道，另有1000人的部队由反恐部队和临时人员组成。
过去，拜登主张在阿富汗留下一支小型反恐部队，但如果他下令全面撤军，这将如何实现还有待观察。
“伊斯兰国在阿富汗东部有可行的足迹，基地组织在阿富汗和巴基斯坦境内活动。退役海军海豹突击队和美国广播公司新闻撰稿人埃里克·奥莱希说:“如果我们把所有的部队撤出，剩下的安全真空将由极端分子填补，无论他们是塔利班还是其他指定的恐怖组织。”。
奥莱赫里希主张留下一批军事和准军事人员，他们可以担任由美国军队训练多年的阿富汗部队的顾问。
他认为，这些美国顾问可以充当美国的存在，可以“监测和报告塔利班的行动”，实际上是为任何撤军协议提供监督。
“答案不应该是全部或没有，”他警告说。“一个混合的方法将有助于阻止恐怖组织利用阿富汗作为避风港，并让塔利班遵守他们的承诺。”
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin visits Afghanistan as troop withdrawal deadline looms
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin made an unannounced visit toAfghanistanon Sunday as a May 1 deadline looms for the possible withdrawal of all U.S. troops from the country. The deadline was part of last year's peace agreement with theTaliban.
President Joe Bidenhas not yet decidedwhether to pull out the 2,500 U.S. troops and is considering whether they should remain in Afghanistan for another six months, according to a U.S. official.
In his first visit to Afghanistan as defense secretary, Austin met with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and with Gen. Scott Miller, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan.
Austin's visit was carried out under tight security restrictions and reporters accompanying Austin were asked not to report the visit until after he had left the country.
The visit comes as Biden has to decide soon whether all American troops will leave Afghanistan as laid out in thepeace agreementthe Trump administration reached with the Taliban last year.
In an exclusive interview earlier this week, Biden told ABC News' George Stephanopoulos that a troop pullout "could happen, but it is tough." If the deadline is extended, Biden added that it would not be by "a lot longer."
"I'm in the process of making that decision now as to when they'll leave," Biden told Stephanopoulos. "The fact is that, that was not a very solidly negotiated deal that the president, the former president, worked out. And so we're in consultation with our allies as well as the government, and that decision's going to be -- it's in process now."
Biden is still considering options presented to him by U.S. military officials that include withdrawing all U.S. troops by or close to the May 1 deadline, keeping the troops there indefinitely or keeping them there for another six months into November, according to a U.S. official.
As recently as Friday, White House officials stressed that Biden has not yet made a decision about whether to abide by the deadline set under the agreement with the Taliban.
The dilemma for Biden is that while the Taliban has stuck to the agreement and refrained from attacking U.S. military forces, it has significantly increased the number of attacks against Afghan security forces.
The Taliban's attacks against Afghan forces are seen by observers as a way for them to get leverage in long-stalled peace talks with Ghani's government.
"Clearly, the violence is too high right now and more progress needs to be made in the Afghan-led negotiations," Austin told reporters in February. "So I urge all parties to choose the path towards peace. And the violence must decrease now."
At the time Austin, also reassured NATO allies "that no matter what the outcome of our review, the United States will not undertake a hasty or disorderly withdrawal from Afghanistan that puts their forces or the alliance's reputation at risk."
"The United States has no obligation to meet the May timeline," said Mick Mulroy, a former deputy assistant secretary of defense for the Middle East and an ABC News contributor, who pointed to the Taliban's attacks as showing it is not adhering to the peace deal.
"The assessment of how many troops are needed and its duration should be based on the facts on the ground," said Mulroy. "We would all like to see the conflict in Afghanistan end and our forces return home, but we do not want to lose everything we fought so hard to gain in the process. We should not leave only to have to return and fight to get to where we are today."
In recent weeks, the Biden administration has tried to jump-start the peace talks by pushing for a permanent cease-fire and a power sharing agreement between the Taliban and the Afghan government.
In a letter to Ghani,that was later leaked, Secretary of State Antony Blinken laid out the initiative's goals and warned that Biden was still considering a full troop withdrawal.
With 40 days remaining before the possible pullout date, the clock is ticking on a withdrawal plan and what it would look like in a short amount of time.
Also, while the Pentagon said the official number of American troops in Afghanistan stands at 2,500,The New York Times recentlyreported that there are an additional 1,000 troops consisting of counterterrorism forces and personnel on temporary orders.
In the past, Biden has favored leaving a small counterterrorism force in Afghanistan, but it remains to be seen how that can be realized if he orders a full troop withdrawal.
"ISIS has a viable footprint in eastern Afghanistan, al-Qaida operates within Afghanistan and Pakistan. If we pull all of our forces out, the remaining security vacuum will be filled by extremists, whether they be Taliban or another designated terror organization," said Eric Oehlerich, a retired Navy SEAL and ABC News contributor.
Oehlerich favors leaving behind a mix of military and paramilitary operators who could fill roles as advisers to Afghan units trained for years by the U.S. military.
He believes those American advisers could serve as a U.S. presence that could "monitor and report on Taliban actions," in effect providing oversight for any withdrawal agreement.
"The answer shouldn't be all or nothing," he cautioned. "A blended approach will help check terror organizations using Afghanistan as a safe haven, as well as hold the Taliban to their pledges."
