"The retrograde plan itself, while it is timed out and fazed and deliberate, is affected not only by what's going on the ground but affected by weather and — and all manner of other factors that — that we have to figure into military planning", Kirby said during an off-camera press briefing.
On Tuesday, the US Central Command announced that it had withdrawn 13-20 percent of its troops from Afghanistan. US Special Representative for Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad, for his part, confirmed that the pullout was taking place without any serious incidents, however, Washington was ready to respond in case of a possible aggression.
On 1 May, the United States began withdrawing troops from Afghanistan after 20 years of war that resulted in the deaths of over 2,300 US servicemen and hundreds of thousands of Afghan casualties.
US President Joe Biden vowed to complete the pullout by the 20th anniversary of the 11 September terrorist attacks against the United States that sparked the so-called "War on Terror" declared by then-President George W. Bush.