OAN Newsroom
UPDATED 11:38 AM PT — Sunday, December 15, 2019
The Trump administration is preparing to announce the withdrawal of
more than 4,000 troops from Afghanistan. Senior U.S. officials said the
announcement could come as early as next week.They did not say when the drawdown would begin, but added it would occur over a few months. Currently there are between 12,000 and 13,000 troops in the nation.
Earlier this year, President Trump told advisers he wanted to withdraw all troops by the November 2020 election. He said he was “elected on getting out of these ridiculous endless wars.”
This came after Defense Secretary Mark Esper shut down rumors the U.S. will be sending additional troops to the Middle East. While speaking at the Reagan National Defense Forum last week, Esper said reports that he’s considering sending 14,000 additional troops to counter recent Iran are “false.”
The defense secretary said he has “no idea where those reports even came from.” He added routine adjustments regarding forces are made based on the needs of commanders.
“Right now, there is no major deployment of additional forces, it’s just a false report,” said Esper. “I wish I could figure out why people don’t try and confirm those things with the DOD before they put those reports out.”
