President Trump is reportedly moving forward with his plan to withdraw 4,000 U.S. military service members from Afghanistan as early as this upcoming week.
The Washington Examiner reports the withdrawal would be a sizeable reduction in the 12,000 to 13,000 troops the U.S. has in the region. It is also a clear indicator Trump is looking to end the U.S. involvement in Afghanistan.
The president initially announced his plan to cut the number of troops down to just under 9,000 in August of this year.
“We’re going down to 8,600 and then we make a determination from there as to what happens,” Trump said at the time, per the report. “We’re bringing it down.”
Around the same time, the president tweeted that he was canceling a meeting with the President of Afghanistan and “major Taliban leaders” at Camp David due to a Taliban attack that killed an American.
We have been serving as policemen in Afghanistan, and that was not meant to be the job of our Great Soldiers, the finest on earth. Over the last four days, we have been hitting our Enemy harder than at any time in the last ten years!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 9, 2019
Unbeknownst to almost everyone, the major Taliban leaders and, separately, the President of Afghanistan, were going to secretly meet with me at Camp David on Sunday. They were coming to the United States tonight. Unfortunately, in order to build false leverage, they admitted to..
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 7, 2019
….only made it worse! If they cannot agree to a ceasefire during these very important peace talks, and would even kill 12 innocent people, then they probably don’t have the power to negotiate a meaningful agreement anyway. How many more decades are they willing to fight?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 7, 2019
I inherited a total mess in Syria and Afghanistan, the “Endless Wars” of unlimited spending and death. During my campaign I said, very strongly, that these wars must finally end. We spend $50 Billion a year in Afghanistan and have hit them so hard that we are now talking peace…
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 1, 2019
The Washington Examiner also reports the move comes as the U.S. and the Afghani government have renewed peace talks with the Taliban:
Trump has been consistently critical of U.S. military presence in Afghanistan and has vowed to end the war that has gone on for more than 18 years. Despite his vow to remove all U.S. troops in the country, however, Trump approved an increase of troops in 2017.
The Taliban has also indicated it would agree to a ceasefire. Defense officials told CNN that the remaining U.S. military presence in the country will be focused on counter-terrorism.
The president made a surprise visit to Afghanistan over the Thanksgiving holiday where he met with the military service members and served them a warm meal.
Just returned to the United States after spending a GREAT Thanksgiving with our Courageous American Warriors in Afghanistan! pic.twitter.com/b2vgY5BH6z
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 29, 2019