NATO has fewer than 12,000 troops from dozens of nations in Afghanistan
\nTLTP
\nWASHINGTON
\nDonald Trump is expected to give a formal order to military chiefs as soon as this week to begin withdrawing more troops from Afghanistan and Iraq, before leaving office on January 20.
\nThe Pentagon has issued a notice to commanders \u2013 known as a \u2018warning order\u2019 \u2013 to begin planning the downscaling of US soldiers to 2,500 each in Afghanistan and Iraq by January 15, the media reported.
\nMitch McConnell, the Republican Senate majority leader, pushed back on Mr Trump\u2019s plans on Monday and warned that a quick withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan would \u201churt our allies\u201d. \u201cWe\u2019re playing a limited but important role in defending American national security and interests against terrorists who would like nothing more than for the most powerful force for good in the world to simply pick up our ball and go home,\u201d he told the senate.
\n\u201cThere\u2019s no American who does not wish the war in Afghanistan against terrorists and their enablers had already been conclusively won,\u201d he said. \u201cBut that does not change the actual choice before us now. A rapid withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan now would hurt our allies and delight the people who wish us harm.\u201d Mr Trump fired his defence secretary, Mark Esper, and appointed other top Pentagon officials last week after long-standing concerns that his priorities were not being dealt with urgently enough at the defence department.
\nThese included ending the 19-year war in Afghanistan by Christmas, an ambitious target some welcomed but which Mr Trump\u2019s critics feared could be reckless given the ongoing militant violence plaguing the country. Afghanistan has featured in a flurry of introductory calls by acting Defence Secretary Christopher Miller, Mr Esper\u2019s replacement, to US allies\u2019 defence chiefs.
\nSpeaking anonymously after the calls with allies, a US defence official suggested that Mr Trump would not push a withdrawal faster than conditions on the ground allow. Both US and Afghan officials are worried about troubling levels of violence by Taliban insurgents and their links to Al Qaeda.
\nIt was those ties that triggered US military intervention in 2001 following the 9\/11 attacks, carried out by Al Qaeda. Thousands of US and allied troops have died fighting in Afghanistan since. Some US military officials, citing counter-terrorism priorities in Afghanistan, have privately urged Mr Trump against a total withdrawal of US troops at this point and want to keep levels at about 4,500 for now.
\n\u201cThe president has acted appropriately in this, has never said: \u2018Hey, we\u2019re going to zero. Let\u2019s go tomorrow.\u2019 It has always been a conditions-based effort and that effort continues,\u201d a senior US defence official said.
\nOn October 7, Mr Trump said on Twitter: \u201cWe should have the small remaining number of our BRAVE Men and Women serving in Afghanistan home by Christmas!\u201d But US officials say he has yet to issue orders to carry out any withdrawal. Doing so now would be difficult for the US military to execute, especially given the reliance of Nato allies on the US for logistical support, sources said.
\nOne Nato official, who asked not to be identified, said the belief was the US could soon announce a drawdown to 2,500-3,000 troops by Christmas. National security adviser Robert O\u2019Brien already raised such a possibility, saying last month the US presence in the region would be reduced to 2,500 by early 2021.
\nA Nato diplomat said Mr Miller, the newly appointed Pentagon chief, in his introductory call with Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, did not suggest a complete withdrawal but instead a reduction of troops. The senior US defence official said US withdrawals from Afghanistan had been carried out in an \u201ceducated way so as not to revisit the Iraq withdrawal that failed in 2011\u201d. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
NATO has fewer than 12,000 troops from dozens of nations in Afghanistan TLTP WASHINGTON Donald Trump is expected to give a formal order to military chiefs as soon as this week to begin withdrawing more troops from Afghanistan and Iraq, before leaving office on January 20. The Pentagon has issued a notice to commanders \u2013 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":156926,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-156911","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-world"],"yoast_head":"\n