Taliban prisoners sit inside a vehicle during their release from the Bagram prison, next to the US military base in Bagram, some 50 km north of Kabul on May 26, 2020. (WAKIL KOHSAR / AFP)

WASHINGTON/BAGRAM, Afghanistan－US President Donald Trump has suggested a complete withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan but did not set a target date.

The Pentagon said earlier this month that the United States was committed to the troops' drawdown plan stipulated in the agreement, despite continued violence in the war-torn country

"We are there 19 years and I think that's enough ... we want to bring our soldiers back home. We can always go back if we have to," Trump told reporters at a White House news conference on Tuesday, underlining that the US military is not meant to be a police force.

Trump denied Thanksgiving Day would be the set date to pull out, saying he had no target. "Over a period of time, but as soon as reasonable," he said.

Trump's response came as media reports said the Pentagon is drawing up plans to bring US troops home before the presidential election.

Citing several officials, The New York Times wrote in an article on Tuesday that senior military officials are set to brief Trump in the coming days on options for a full withdrawal from the central Asian country, with one possible option being to pull out before the election.

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The article said that military officials believe a quick withdrawal from Afghanistan would destroy the peace deal reached in late February with the Afghan Taliban.

The Pentagon said earlier this month that the United States was committed to the troops' drawdown plan stipulated in the agreement, despite continued violence in the war-torn country.

Under the agreement, the US would reduce its forces in Afghanistan to 8,600 within 135 days, and all the US-led coalition forces would return home within 14 months if the Taliban meets the conditions of the agreement, including severing ties with terrorist groups.

Meanwhile, Afghan authorities freed hundreds more Taliban prisoners on Tuesday, as calls grew for the militants to extend a cease-fire on its third and final day.

The historic pause in fighting－only the second in nearly 19 years of war－has mostly held across Afghanistan, providing a rare respite from the conflict's grinding violence.

Authorities said they had released about 900 Taliban prisoners across the country on Tuesday, approximately 600 of them from the Bagram Prison near Kabul.

The release is part of a pledge by the Afghan government to free up to 2,000 insurgent prisoners in response to the Taliban's three-day cease-fire offer, which began on Sunday to mark the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr.

The prisoners had signed written pledges not to return to the battlefield.

Each former prisoner was given the equivalent of about US$65 in Afghan currency. The buses they had boarded at the prison dropped them in Kabul, where they said their goodbyes to each other and took taxis to their homes.

'Good progress'

The release of the 900 or so prisoners marked "good progress", Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen said on Twitter.

He added the group will free a "remarkable" number of Afghan security force personnel, but did not specify when.

National Security Council spokesman Javid Faisal said Afghan authorities hoped the Taliban would extend the cease-fire so delayed peace talks with the insurgents could begin.

"If the Taliban are ready to extend the cease-fire, we are ready to continue the cease-fire, too," Faisal said.

"We hope they release our prisoners so that intra-Afghan peace talks begin as soon as possible. ... The future depends on the Taliban's next move."

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The cease-fire has raised hopes of an extended truce that could pave the way for talks, which had originally been scheduled to start by March 10.

President Ashraf Ghani has said his administration is ready to begin peace negotiations, seen as key to ending the war.

Before this week's releases, Kabul had already freed about 1,000 Taliban inmates, while the insurgents released about 300 captives from the Afghan security forces.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, while welcoming the latest developments, has insisted that freed Taliban prisoners should not return to the battlefield.