{"id":47189,"date":"2019-10-21T13:51:40","date_gmt":"2019-10-21T13:51:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2019\/10\/21\/congressional-leaders-travel-to-afghanistan-amid-uncertainty-over-troop-deployments-overseas\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T13:48:31","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T13:48:31","slug":"congressional-leaders-travel-to-afghanistan-amid-uncertainty-over-troop-deployments-overseas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/congress\/2019\/10\/21\/congressional-leaders-travel-to-afghanistan-amid-uncertainty-over-troop-deployments-overseas\/","title":{"rendered":"Congressional leaders travel to Afghanistan amid uncertainty over troop deployments overseas"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">House Speaker Nancy Pelosi make a surprise stop in Afghanistan on Sunday, visiting with U.S. military personnel and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2019\/10\/20\/esper-says-reduction-of-american-forces-in-afghanistan-relies-on-a-peace-agreement-with-taliban\/\" target=_blank>Afghan government officials<\/a> as part of a bipartisan congressional delegation monitoring progress there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The move comes amid uncertainty surrounding U.S. troop combat deployments \u2014 particularly in the Middle East, where special forces service members were pulled back from positions in Syria \u2014 and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/your-military\/2019\/09\/30\/afghanistan-peace-negotiations-may-be-dead-but-the-wars-still-very-much-alive\/\" target=_blank>conflicting plans from White House and congressional leaders<\/a> on how to draw down military presence overseas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In a statement, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2019\/05\/15\/pelosi-warns-trump-against-war-in-mideast-dems-demand-info\/\" target=_blank>Pelosi, D-Calif.,<\/a> said the visit to the war zone was \u201cessential for Congress to conduct effective oversight of our mission in Afghanistan.\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\/your-military\/2019\/10\/21\/us-has-already-pulled-2000-troops-from-afghanistan-gen-austin-miller-says\/\" 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=\"157\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP18245290979076.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 has already pulled 2,000 troops from Afghanistan, Gen. Austin Miller says<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">Army Gen. Austin Miller said Monday approximately 2,000 U.S. troops had left Afghanistan in the past year, the New York Times reports. That means there are approximately 12,000 U.S. troops remaining in Afghanistan &#8212; a decrease from the roughly 14,000 that were previously stationed there.<\/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\">The visit included meetings with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah as well as conversations with U.S. military leaders, including Defense Secretary Mark Esper and U.S. Forces-Afghanistan Commander Gen. Austin Miller.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Lawmakers also met with U.S. and Afghan troops at Camp Morehead, located near Kabul.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIn addition, our delegation had the opportunity to meet with civil society leaders in Afghanistan, including Afghan women,\u201d Pelosi\u2019s statement said. \u201cWhile Afghan women have made some progress in some areas, more work is needed to ensure their security and durable economic and educational opportunities for women and girls in Afghanistan.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Afghanistan stop was added on to a planned high-level congressional visit with officials in Jordan this weekend, where lawmakers discussed instability in Syria and neighboring countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That situation has drawn the majority of U.S. foreign policy focus in recent days, with critics attacking President Donald Trump\u2019s moves ahead of a Turkish military assault on Syrian border towns and Kurish allies of American forces.<\/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\/your-military\/2019\/10\/18\/how-the-horse-soldiers-helped-liberate-afghanistan-from-the-taliban-18-years-ago\/\" 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=\"143\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/MarkNutsch.png.png?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\">How the \u2018Horse Soldiers\u2019 helped liberate Afghanistan from the Taliban 18 years ago<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">On Oct. 19, 2001, a team of 12 Green Berets with the 5th Special Forces Group&#039;s Operational Detachment Alpha 595 were inserted into Afghanistan to liberate the region from the Taliban without tanks or trucks. Just horses.<\/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\">Trump has also repeatedly promised to decrease the U.S. military presence in Afghanistan, although the American troop totals have increased during his presidential term. Over the weekend, Miller told the New York Times that the number of U.S. servicemembers in the country has dropped by about 2,000 in recent months, as various missions and tours have wrapped up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Pelosi\u2019s Afghanistan delegation included one Republican \u2014 House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mac Thornberry, R-Texas \u2014 and several other high-ranking House Democrats, including House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., and Foreign Affairs Chairman Eliot Engel, D-N.Y.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The lawmakers also praised the visit as an opportunity to \u201cbring the thanks of the United States Congress to our heroic men and women serving on the front line in Afghanistan.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The trip coincided with a congressional delegation visit to Jordan to discuss regional instability.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":103057,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":8,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[8,160,36,19],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3424],"class_list":["post-47189","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-congress","category-daily-news-roundup","category-newsletters","category-pentagon"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"JLLVEQ4AXFHYBIMM62D4NINELQ","arc_canonical_url":"\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2019\/10\/21\/congressional-leaders-travel-to-afghanistan-amid-uncertainty-over-troop-deployments-overseas\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented 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