Hillary Clinton warns that U.S. shouldn't give up on Afghanistan entirely

<p>As American troops begin withdrawing from Afghanistan as part of the peace deal signed in late February with the Taliban, Hillary Clinton Tuesday reiterated that the U.S. shouldn’t leave the war-weary country entirely.</p><p>The former Secretary of State said that once the conditions-based reduction of U.S.troopwithdrawal has been met, the U.S. should commit all elements of civilian power to Afghanistan.</p><p>“We cannot forget the entire country simply because the conflict has ended. We make that mistake before. Let’s make a commitment to bear all elements of civilian power: development, diplomacy, democracy to help the Afghan people to pursue the better future they deserve.”</p><p>Currently, the U.S. has about 13,000 soldiers in Afghanistan — 8,000 of whom are involved in training and advising the country’s National Security Forces, while about 5,000 others are involved in anti-terror operations.</p><p>The military had begun its “conditions-based reduction of forces to 8,600 over 135 days,” according to U.S. military’s spokesman in Afghanistan Sonny Legget.</p>