WASHINGTON, 8 February, 2021 (TON): Republican Senator Lindsey Graham has said that US troops will not leave Afghanistan by May as mentioned in the landmark peace deal inked between Washington and the Taliban, saying "we're going to leave when the conditions are right".

"I like what (Secretary of State Antonny) Tony Blinken and the Biden administration is doing. They're re-evaluating our presence in Afghanistan to keep the footprint low, but not to walk away and lose all the gains we've achieved.

"If we leave too soon without a conditions-based withdrawal, the rebels will come back. Women will suffer greatly," Graham told media.

His comments perceived as no meeting has been held between the Afghan Republic and the Taliban negotiators in Doha over the last 19 days after the peace talks resumed between the two sides on 5 January following a break.

The peace talks started on 12 September, 2020 easing the way for the withdrawal of thousands of US forces in Afghanistan and facilitate the intra-Afghan dialogue.

Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby claimed that the Taliban was threatening the landmark agreement.

In response, a Taliban spokesman Mohammad Naeem said that the group remained committed to the agreement "and we call on the other side to stay firm on its commitments".

The war in the region caused around 2,500 US military deaths, the longest in the history of America.