Speaking at an unannounced Thanksgiving gathering on his first-ever visit to Afghanistan, where the US has been fighting for the past 18 years, President Donald Trump has solemnly announced the United States is “substantially” reducing its troops there.
During a meeting with Afghani President Ashraf Ghani, POTUS also confirmed his intention to reduce the number of US troops on the ground from 14,000 to 8,000, with the administration having already reduced Washington's presence in the crisis-stricken country by 2,000 troops over the last year, numerous reports suggested.
Peace negotiations with the Taliban have been underway for quite some time, about a year at least, yet have so far yielded no tangible results. POTUS previously postponed peace talks noting the negotiations were “dead", while Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Mark Milley told ABC News earlier this month that a US contingent, irrespective of its size, would remain in the country for “several more years”.
He added that the US mission there “is not yet complete", arguing that Afghan forces are “going to have to be able to sustain their own internal security” before the US withdraws all of its troops.