US "Domestic Politics" Behind Afghanistan Withdrawal: German Chancellor

Germany estimates that 2,500 local employees who worked with German troops or at the embassy, as well as their family members, need to be evacuated from the country.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Monday that the United States had decided to withdraw from Afghanistan partly because of domestic political reasons, sources in her party told AFP. At a meeting with her CDU-CSU party leadership, Merkel said NATO's decision to pull out after almost two decades of deployment was "ultimately made by the Americans", and that "domestic political reasons" were partly to blame. "We have always said, if the Americans stay, we will also stay," she said, according to participants at the meeting. "The troop withdrawal sparked a domino effect" that culminated in the Taliban sweeping back into power, said Merkel.