U.S. would cut troops in Afghanistan to 8,600 under peace deal, Trump says
The U.S. plans to cut its military forces in Afghanistan to 8,600 troops, President Donald Trump said today in the first on-the-record confirmation of the number.
“We’re going down to 8,600 and then we’ll make a determination from there as to what happens,” Trump told Fox News radio.
The Pentagon has not disclosed the number of troops it plans to leave in Afghanistan if administration negotiator Zalmay Khalilzad reaches a deal with Taliban representatives in Qatar. However, defense officials speaking on condition of anonymity have floated the 8,600 figure before. The Pentagon's official current troop number is 14,000, although defense officials have said the true figure is closer to 13,000.
Trump also suggested some U.S. counterterrorism forces would remain in Afghanistan after a withdrawal. “We’re going to keep a presence there,” he said in the radio interview. “We’re reducing that presence very substantially, and we’re going to always have a presence. We’re going to have high intelligence.”
The Taliban’s main demand in the negotiations is that all U.S. forces leave Afghanistan. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Joseph Dunford said yesterday that it’s “premature” to discuss whether the U.S. would eventually meet that demand or would insist on a stay-behind counterterrorism force aimed at Islamic State and al-Qaida militants.
Article originally published on POLITICO Magazine