The coronavirus is slowing down the drawback of troops from Afghanistan just days after the withdrawal officially began.
Any United States troops who recently entered Afghanistan are facing 14-day quarantines — which affects 1,500 troops, according to the Associated Press. The same is true for troops leaving Afghanistan to return to the United States. As troop movements around the globe slow to accommodate screening and quarantine measures, some deployments in Afghanistan are also being extended so operations can continue.
These measures come just days after the United States began implementing a troop drawback that was negotiated in late February. According to the agreement, the U.S. was to reduce its troop presence in Afghanistan from 13,000 to 8,600 by mid-July. These now-stalled troop movements began on March 10.
"Protecting the force is our top priority," Col. Sonny Leggett, spokesman for U.S. Forces Afghanistan tweeted Thursday.
Operation Resolute Support released a statement explaining that it was "making the necessary adjustments to temporarily pause personnel movement." Some of these adjustments, the release added, “will necessitate some servicemembers remaining beyond their scheduled departure dates.”
According to the Associated Press, 21 U.S. and coalition personnel exhibiting flu-like symptoms are in isolation and receiving medical care. None have tested positive for COVID-19, but it's unclear whether they have been tested.
Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Wis., sent a letter to Secretary of Defense Mark Esper after being contacted by the family member of a soldier in Afghanistan — who said they weren't being tested.
"We were contacted about a military base, 75 miles from the Iranian border, where a number of military personnel have flu-like symptoms but have tested negative for the flu," Pocan said in a release last Thursday. "The base is only a few miles from a town in Afghanistan with 5 known positive cases for coronavirus."
While he did not confirm an unmet need for testing in Afghanistan, Brig. Gen. Paul Friedrichs, joint staff surgeon for the Joint Chiefs of Staff did concede that Afghanistan lacks the equipment to process the tests.
“I’m not aware of any lack of tests," Friedrichs said at a Pentagon press briefing this week. "I believe there’s been some concern about the fact that the equipment to run the test, that specific machine, is not in Afghanistan and that’s true."
As of March 20, the Department of Defense had 124 confirmed cases of COVID-19 including 67 active-duty personnel.
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