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View Winners → Opinion Nov 18, 2020
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President Trump, disregarding advice, will remove troops from Afghanistan and Iraq. President Trump has decided to end his presidency with a flourish by withdrawing many of the U.S. troops deployed in Afghanistan and Iraq.
The drawdown , announced Tuesday by acting Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller, is alarmingly abrupt, and it preempts what should have been a decision by President-elect Joe Biden. The announced reduction in U.S. troops in Afghanistan is especially troubling. The U.S. has more than 4,500 forces training and advising the Afghan military and engaging in counter-terrorism operations there.
Trump plans to cut that number to 2,500, after suggesting last month that all of the troops would be home by Christmas. Meanwhile, U.S. forces in Iraq will be reduced from 3,000 to 2,500. The target date for the reductions is Jan. 15, five days before Biden is sworn in. We oppose a sudden withdrawal from Afghanistan, but not because we believe U.S. forces should remain perpetually in that country.
We welcomed the Trump administration’s willingness to negotiate with the Taliban. In February, those talks produced a tentative agreement linking withdrawal of remaining U.S. forces to a commitment by the Taliban to prevent Al Qaeda, Islamic State […]