Trump Orders Major Afghan Drawdown: 7,000 Troops To Return Home In Coming Weeks

Zero Hedge – by Tyler Durden

CNN warns “officials brace for Trump announcement on Afghanistan” after Trump’s Wednesday bombshell Syria troop pullout announcement. He’s now initiated “a major drawdown” of forces in Afghanistan too, and while inside the beltway neocon heads might continue to explode, the broader public for which the seventeen year long Afghan war is deeply unpopular will no doubt cheer the move. And already NBC reports Thursday evening based on defense sources the White House has asked the Pentagon to draw up plans presenting “multiple options” including a “complete withdrawal”. Following the “options” order it now appears Trump has pulled the trigger and “ordered the start of a reduction of American forces in Afghanistan” according to a breaking WSJ report:  

More than 7,000 American troops will begin to return home from Afghanistan in the coming weeks, a U.S. official said. The move will come as the first stage of a phased drawdown and the start of a conclusion to the 17-year war that officials say could take at least many months. There now are more than 14,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan.

Further the WSJ reports it marks “the start of a total pullout that could take at least many months.”

The major reduction of U.S. troops in the country will begin as soon as within several weeks, according to sources cited in The Wall Street Journal. Currently there are about 14,000 troops in Afghanistan in continuation of a NATO advise, train and assist mission as part of the longest running war in United States history.

Trump reportedly stoked “anger and confusion” among some lawmakers and Pentagon officials over his Syria pullout decision; however, he appears to be sticking to his prior “bring the troops home” promises made on the campaign trail in 2016. In a series of Tweets, the president defended the 180 degree shift in Syria policy, which as of only less than a week ago was was expressed by US special envoy for Syria, Ambassador James Jeffrey, as “countering Iran”.

In a Thursday Tweet that could have just as well been about Afghanistan, Trump stated: “So hard to believe that Lindsey Graham would be against saving soldier lives & billions of $$$.” And added, “Time to focus on our Country & bring our youth back home where they belong!”

Meanwhile it shouldn’t be forgotten that even the generals responsible for executing the Afghan war have been critics of late, including the commander of NATO’s Resolute Support Mission and U.S. Forces in Afghanistan.

Speaking to NBC News in early November, Gen. Austin Scott Miller made deeply pessimistic public statements after taking charge of American operations, and shocked with his frank assessment that that the Afghan war cannot be won militarily and peace will only be achieved through direct engagement and negotiations with the Taliban — the very terror group which US forces sought to defeat when it first invaded in 2001. “This is not going to be won militarily,” Gen. Miller said. “This is going to a political solution.”

He explained further to NBC at the time:

My assessment is the Taliban also realizes they cannot win militarily. So if you realize you can’t win militarily at some point, fighting is just, people start asking why. So you do not necessarily wait us out, but I think now is the time to start working through the political piece of this conflict.

So it appears Trump is actually heeding his general’s assessment in ordering the significant drawdown.

Currently the State Department is conducting on-again off-again shaky negotiations (since last summer) with Taliban officials with the help of intermediary countries Pakistan and Qatar.

The United States has spent well over $840 billion fighting the Taliban insurgency while also paying for relief and reconstruction in an “endless war” that has become more expensive, in current dollars, than the Marshall Plan, which was the reconstruction effort to rebuild Europe after World War II.

https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-12-20/trump-weighing-major-drawdown-afghanistan-he-tweets-bring-our-youth-back-home

14 thoughts on “Trump Orders Major Afghan Drawdown: 7,000 Troops To Return Home In Coming Weeks

  1. So does that mean he’s just reshuffling the deck and putting them somewhere else? You know that’s how it goes. Where will he put them? At the Southern border or another country?

      1. Exactly what I said when I sent it in, mary…

        “Bringing troops home to enforce the new gun laws that EVERYONE is ignoring? From Syria too?”

  2. As with the so-called withdrawal from Syria, I’ll believe ti when I see it. And if both withdrawals happen, it must mean Trump will send them elsewhere…Ukraine? Or here to enforce gun confiscation, or at border to keep us in?

  3. US Marines are practising beach assaults – at this moment – in Brazil

    The Russian military is on a tiny island just of the Venezuela coast called Gran Roque.

    After the US sanctions failed to get the People to revolt so the US could install a puppet leader and steal the oil, the Russians (remember, Trump’s ”buddies”) aren’t going to allow the US to invade, ruin, and steal yet another country ILLEGALLY.

    (Anyone who still believes in that ‘collusion’ nonsense is an embarrassment to the already low IQ Amerikan’s possess)

    Probably why Trump is pulling out of Syria. Training terrorists who failed to remove Assad the first time aren’t a sure bet.

    I’d say prepare for another 9/11 False Flag, Wag The Dog scenario

    1. Which “collusion nonsense” are you referring to? I hope you don’t mean Putin… He is right on-board with the objectives of the global plan. They make him enemy or ally as needed.

      .

    1. Yeah. And when Trump says this…

      “So hard to believe that Lindsey Graham would be against saving soldier lives & billions of $$$. Time to focus on our Country & bring our youth back home where they belong!”

      …it suggests to me that all has been coordinated with each head of state to do whatever bidding the chain of command (which does not change) hands down. Our presence wherever can end when our guy over there now does the work for us. Just like in other conquerings, especially Central America a few decades ago. Install a puppet. Give him places. If he doesn’t go along, kill him. Yeah, like Sadaam, Gaddafi, Araphat, etc.

      They say things like, this politician disagrees and that general approves, just to put out the picture of dialogue, when the template is already laid. Such grand theater. Israel creates and defines the enemy (Al Qaeda, ISIS, Taliban, etc). US funds and trains. And off they go. An interesting component is that fewer and fewer are enlisting. Perhaps one could say without immigration there would be no soldiers. How well coordinated their master plan is. They just didn’t realize so many would see through it.

      1. They bring home 7000 troops, then shut down the government. Peter pays Paul the hard way. All those troops were doing was guarding opiom poppies. China told Trump ” we got this”. You want Trump towers in China? Turn drug control over to us. Russia and China control Trump like a string puppet at a Barnum and Bailey side show.

        China claims to clamp down on Fentanyl, then we pull out troops guarding the poppies.

        HMMMMMM……. Who’s calling the shots here?

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