US Troop Draw Down in Afghanistan by 2021

General, as you know, the national security adviser, Robert O'Brien, said the other day that he expected a big reduction of U.S. troops in Afghanistan by early next year. And then after he made that statement, President Trump said on Twitter that troops, should, he use the word should, be home by Christmas. In light of those public statements, what specific orders, if any, have you received?

Well, thanks, Steve, for that. We have a plan, a series of responsible drawdown options that has been briefed to the president. I'm not going to go into specific numbers for the future. I think that would be appropriate for me as the chairman to talk specific numbers in future operations, we typically don't do that. But we have a responsible plan to end the war with U.S. interests clearly in mind. As you know, we the United States government signed an agreement on 28 February.

At that time, we had, roughly speaking, about 12,000, a little bit better, U.S. troops in Afghanistan. That came down to, call it 8,500, 8,600 or so by mid summer, and we're on a plan to do a responsible, deliberate drawdown to about 4,500 here very shortly. And then future drawdowns will be determined by the president. And I'm not going to disclose specific numbers and what those are. The whole agreement and all of the drawdown plans are conditions-based, and I expect that we'll have further discussions on the conditions and ensure that they warrant. The key here is that we're trying to end a war responsibly, deliberately, and to do it on terms that guarantee the safety of the U.S. vital national security interests that are at stake in Afghanistan.

You used an important phrase, general, conditions-based. I want to make sure that people understand that. I think you're telling me you're not going to pick an arbitrary date like the end of the year or Christmas and everybody's going to leave. People are leaving when the situation on the ground makes it possible for them to leave without endangering your mission. Is that correct?

Well, that has always been our instructions. That's always been the agreement. That was the decision of the president on a conditions-based withdrawal. And and as you look at the agreement, the 28 February agreement, one of those conditions is: enter Afghan negotiations. Those are ongoing right now. That's important. Another one is not attacking U.S. forces; not conducting major attacks in the major urban areas of Afghanistan; severing ties with al-Qaida. And there's a whole variety of other conditions. So we're monitoring all of those conditions closely. And we're, we the military, are giving our best military advice on those conditions so that the president can make an informed, deliberate, responsible decision.

You said one of those conditions having to do with peace talks is being met. Are all the others being met right now?

Well, the peace talks are happening, they're not finalized, so I caveat that because they are ongoing in Doha as you know. It depends. It depends on the specific condition and it depends on how you want to measure it. In terms of violence, for example, if you start measuring the violence from, call it four or five months ago, has there been a significant reduction in violence? Answer: not significant. If you measure it from two to three years ago or five years ago, there has been a significant reduction in violence.

So, you have to look at this stuff analytically and we do. And you have to put it through a high degree of rigor, because you can get two people looking at the same set of phenomena and they will come up with two different conclusions. So what I want to make sure is that we're going through a high degree of rigor and providing good analysis for the president to make a responsible, deliberate decision.

US forces hit Taliban with airstrikes in Helmand province

LASHKAR GAH, Afghanistan (AP) — American forces carried out several airstrikes in support of Afghan security forces under attack by the Taliban in southern Helmand province, a spokesperson for the U.S. military in Afghanistan said Monday.

Col. Sonny Leggett said the recent Taliban attacks in Helmand are “not consistent” with a U.S.-Taliban deal signed in February and undermine ongoing intra-Afghan peace talks. He said the airstrikes do not violate the February deal...

The announcement of U.S. strikes came after a gunbattle on Monday was reported in and around Lashkar Gah, the capital of Helmand province.

Witnesses reported sporadic shooting in the city and said some residents fled from the districts of Nad Ali and Nawa because of the fighting...

Thousands of US Troops Will Remain in Afghanistan Past Christmas

National Security Advisor Robert O’Brien on Friday said that some 2,500 U.S. troops will remain in Afghanistan beyond Christmas, seeking to clarify a series of mixed messages from senior Trump administration officials and dismissing a tweet from the president last week.

He also took a direct shot at Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Mark Milley, who in an NPR interview on Sunday appeared to suggest that a previous announcement by O’Brien about the withdrawal plan was only “speculation,” without any real authority behind it...

O’Brien reiterated on Friday that the United States intends to draw down to 2,500 troops in early 2021. Asked directly about the three contradictory answers, O’Brien said that Trump’s tweet was merely expressing wishes of any wartime president [in other words, just campaign bs]...

NATO chief rules out rushed, early exit from Afghanistan

BRUSSELS (AP) — As rising violence threatens to derail Afghan peace talks, the head of NATO said Wednesday that the military alliance will not leave Afghanistan until security conditions allow, even as some U.S. troops might be hoping to be back home in time for Christmas.

“We will make a decision together, coordinate our efforts based on the principle ‘in together, adjust together, and when the time is right, when the conditions are met, then we will leave together,’ but not before,” NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told reporters...

Acting SecDef Chris Miller's First Message to the Military: It's Time to Leave Afghanistan

After less than a week on the job, the Pentagon's new acting leader has issued his first public guidance to all Defense Department staff, including a pointed message: It's time to come home from Afghanistan...

In his new memo, he emphasized the need to bring the fighting to an end, though he did not provide a timeline or offer guidance on how a withdrawal would take place. A transition in the war formerly known as Operation Enduring Freedom did take place on paper in late 2014, when the U.S. formally ended combat operations and assigned troops remaining in the country to act in advise-and-assist roles. However, since then, combat operations have continued, U.S. troops have been killed and regions of the country that the U.S. had departed -- such as Helmand province, Afghanistan -- have been the destination of new deployments.

"We are not a people of perpetual war - it is the antithesis of everything for which we stand and for which our ancestors fought. All wars must end," Miller said in his memo. "Ending wars requires compromise and partnership. We met the challenge; we gave it our all. Now, it's time to come home..."