{"id":65418,"date":"2019-08-02T01:20:42","date_gmt":"2019-08-02T01:20:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/uncategorized\/2019\/08\/02\/report-the-us-has-a-plan-to-draw-down-troops-in-afghanistan\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T11:39:21","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T11:39:21","slug":"report-the-us-has-a-plan-to-draw-down-troops-in-afghanistan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2019\/08\/02\/report-the-us-has-a-plan-to-draw-down-troops-in-afghanistan\/","title":{"rendered":"Report: The US has a plan to draw down troops in Afghanistan"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The possibility of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/your-military\/2019\/07\/22\/trump-says-he-has-a-plan-to-win-the-afghanistan-war-in-10-days\/\" target=\"_blank\">reducing America\u2019s military presence <\/a>in the almost 18-year <a href=\"https:\/\/www.armytimes.com\/news\/your-army\/2019\/07\/31\/army-identifies-two-soldiers-killed-in-afghanistan\/\" target=\"_blank\">Afghanistan War<\/a> is on the table, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/world\/national-security\/us-preparing-to-withdraw-thousands-of-troops-from-afghanistan-in-initial-deal-with-taliban\/2019\/08\/01\/01e97126-b3ac-11e9-8f6c-7828e68cb15f_story.html?utm_term=.276260960c24\" target=\"_blank\">Washington Post reported <\/a>Thursday, but the Pentagon is saying it\u2019s received no orders to that effect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The drawdown could reduce troop levels from 14,000 to between 8,000 and 9,000, U.S. officials told the Post, and would be contingent on the Taliban<a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2019\/07\/24\/pakistan-pm-says-hell-work-with-us-on-afghanistan-accord\/\" target=_blank> continuing peace talks<\/a> directly with the Afghan government.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2019\/07\/31\/pompeo-backtracks-on-afghanistan-withdrawal-by-fall-2020\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP_19211789134684.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">Pompeo backtracks on Afghanistan withdrawal by fall 2020<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">Earlier in the week, the secretary of state suggested a major troop withdrawal before the 2020 presidential election.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But the Defense Department has not been told to reduce troop levels, according to a Pentagon spokeswoman.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cOur strategy in Afghanistan is conditions-based; our troops will remain in Afghanistan at appropriate levels so long as their presence is required to safeguard U.S. interests,&#8221; Cmdr. Rebecca Rebarich told Military Times.<\/p>\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-smg-jwplayer-video\"><atype-video-jwplayer nostick=\"true\" playlisturl=\"https:\/\/cdn.jwplayer.com\/v2\/playlists\/fCzRqMW8?tags=0ffa89a4-6481-4778-83ce-8f3e2eb49967\" aspectratio=\"16 \/ 9\" mute autostart=\"false\"><\/atype-video-jwplayer><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Watch President Trump&#8217;s full address to troops at Ft. Myer &#8212; and to the nation &#8212; in which he outlined his policy on Afghanistan.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The report comes as the U.S. is in the midst of peace negotiations with the Taliban, and a week after President Trump told reporters that he would be leaning on the government of Pakistan to help smooth out a total troop withdrawal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI think Pakistan\u2019s going to help us out, to extricate ourselves,\u201d Trump said, lamenting that American troops have been acting more like \u201cpolice\u201d than war fighters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Pakistan has been participating in the peace talks, which most recently convened in Qatar in early July \u2015 and, according to a July 23 release from the White House, &#8220;we are going to ask them to do more.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2019\/08\/02\/us-envoy-says-afghanistan-peace-agreement-possible-in-next-taliban-talks\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP19039710392746.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">US envoy says Afghanistan peace agreement possible in next Taliban talks<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">The United States peace envoy to Afghanistan met with Pakistan\u2019s prime minister and other top officials ahead of his flight to Qatar for a crucial round of peace talks with the Taliban.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">American soldiers first set foot in Afghanistan in late October 2001. Combat operations officially ceased in 2014, but thousands of service members have remained on the ground in a train-advise-assistant capacity, often with Army division headquarters elements rotating through.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In 2017, the Army stood up the first of six security force assistance brigades in anticipation of that ongoing mission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So far, two SFABs have deployed to Afghanistan, but Army officials have not said when one of those deployments might replace a rotation of conventional forces \u2015 nor has a deployment been announced to anywhere other than Afghanistan, though the units were designed with deployments to other combatant commands in mind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The proposed drawdown would bring troop levels back to the numbers at the beginning of the Trump administration, before the president announced a new Afghanistan strategy in August 2017.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Officials told the Washington Post a plan is in the works, but the Pentagon is pushing 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