President Donald Trump will leave office with 2,500 troops in Afghanistan and 2,500 troops in Iraq after he ordered drawdowns of American forces in both those countries, which were announced Tuesday by his new acting defense secretary.
“By Jan. 15, 2021, our forces, their size in Afghanistan will be 2,500, and our force size in Iraq will also be 2,500 by that same date,” acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller said Tuesday in his first public appearance at the Pentagon since taking the job Nov. 9 after Trump fired former Defense Secretary Mark Esper. “This is consistent with our established plans and strategic objectives supported by the American people and does not equate to a change in U.S. policy or objectives.”
The decision would give military officials about 10 weeks to remove about 2,500 troops from Afghanistan and about 500 from Iraq.
Troops had already been steadily drawing down throughout 2020 from Afghanistan, where the U.S. had 13,000 troops in January. U.S. forces began 2020 with about 5,200 troops in Iraq.
The moves accelerate the rate at which U.S. troops are leaving ahead of the end of Trump’s term on Jan. 20 and against the backdrop of ongoing negotiations for a peace agreement between the U.S.-backed Afghan government and the Taliban. But the hastened drawdowns stop short of achieving Trump’s long-promised end of American involvement in what he has dubbed “forever wars.”
Since Trump was a candidate in 2016, he has championed the full U.S. military exit from places such as Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and Somalia. He tweeted as recently as October that he wanted all American troops “home by Christmas.”
Defense officials said Tuesday that they had determined the United States could ensure Americans were protected from any threats emanating from Afghanistan or Iraq with the reduced forces. They declined to comment on any planned reductions for the hundreds of troops serving in Somalia and Syria…
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