Donald Trump

VOA News
December 20, 2018

President Donald Trump is considering a significant U.S. troop withdrawal from Afghanistan, senior administration officials said Thursday.

The first of the U.S. troops could come home as early as next month, the officials told U.S. news agencies.

There has been no comment so far from the Pentagon or U.S. Central Command.

There are 14,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan. Their noncombat mission is training and advising Afghan forces in taking over responsibility for security in their own country.

The comments from the U.S. officials came a day after Trump’s stunning announcement that the U.S. would pull its troops out of Syria.

“I think it shows how serious the president is about wanting to come out of conflicts,” a senior U.S. official told The Wall Street Journal. “I think he wants to see viable options about how to bring conflicts to a close.”