{"id":58579,"date":"2020-10-16T15:28:55","date_gmt":"2020-10-16T15:28:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/marinecorpstimes\/uncategorized\/2020\/10\/16\/national-security-advisor-despite-trump-tweet-afghanistan-christmas-withdrawal-unlikely\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T12:13:06","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T12:13:06","slug":"national-security-advisor-despite-trump-tweet-afghanistan-christmas-withdrawal-unlikely","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/marinecorpstimes\/flashpoints\/2020\/10\/16\/national-security-advisor-despite-trump-tweet-afghanistan-christmas-withdrawal-unlikely\/","title":{"rendered":"National security adviser: Despite Trump tweet, Afghanistan Christmas withdrawal unlikely"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">National security adviser Robert O\u2019Brien on Friday appeared to take a swipe at Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, doing nothing to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/your-military\/2020\/10\/11\/milley-ducks-endorsement-of-trumps-afghanistan-exit-timeline\/\" target=_blank>close a rare public disconnect<\/a> between the president\u2019s top national security official and his top uniformed officer over troop levels in Afghanistan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The issue emerged Oct. 7, when O\u2019Brien said he <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/your-military\/2020\/10\/08\/taliban-cheer-trump-tweet-promising-early-us-troop-withdrawal-from-afghanistan\/\" target=_blank>supported a plan<\/a> to draw down to 2,500 troops by early next year. Just days later, Milley downplayed those comments, directly calling O\u2019Brien\u2019s numbers \u201cspeculation\u201d that doesn\u2019t line up with ongoing discussions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI think that, you know, Robert O\u2019Brien or anyone else can speculate as they see fit,\u201d Milley said in an Oct. 12 interview with NPR. \u201cI\u2019m not going to engage in speculation. I\u2019m going to engage in the rigorous analysis of the situation based on the conditions and the plans that I am aware of and my conversations with the president.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On Friday, O\u2019Brien used his appearance at an Aspen Institute event to fire back and emphasize that the 2,500 troop level is very much in play.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIt has been suggested by some that that\u2019s speculation. I can guarantee you, that\u2019s the plan of the president of the United States,\u201d O\u2019Brien said. \u201cThat\u2019s the order of the commander-in-chief. That\u2019s not speculation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Asked directly about the disconnect between him and Milley, O\u2019Brien didn\u2019t back down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWhen I speak and talk about troop levels and that sort of thing, look: I\u2019m a staffer. I staff the president of the United States,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s not my practice to speculate. Other people can interpret that what I say is a speculation or not, but I wasn\u2019t speculating then, I wasn\u2019t speculating today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;And so, when I\u2019m speaking, I\u2019m speaking for the president. And I think that\u2019s what the Pentagon is moving out and doing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">However, the national security adviser did downplay an <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/realDonaldTrump\/status\/1313984510749544450?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1313984510749544450%7Ctwgr%5Eshare_3%2Ccontainerclick_0&#038;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.militarytimes.com%2Fnews%2Fyour-military%2F2020%2F10%2F11%2Fmilley-ducks-endorsement-of-trumps-afghanistan-exit-timeline%2F\">Oct. 7 tweet<\/a> in which Trump said the U.S. \u201cshould\u201d have all troops in Afghanistan home by Christmas, casting that as part of a long tradition of leaders who say they would like to have forces back home for the holiday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe\u2019re on a path right now that looks like about 4,500 this fall, and at a smaller number in January and February, but if the conditions permitted look we\u2019d love to get people out earlier and I think that\u2019s the desire that the President was expressing,\u201d O\u2019Brien said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Pentagon officials have previously said there will be less than 5,000 troops in Afghanistan by the end of November. Troops levels in Iraq are <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/your-military\/2020\/09\/09\/centcom-boss-says-us-cutting-troops-in-iraq-to-3000-this-month\/\">also coming down<\/a>, as the Trump administration attempts to meet the long-stated goal of President Trump to exit the \u201cendless wars\u201d fought for the last 19 years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;When I\u2019m speaking, I\u2019m speaking for the president,&#8221; Robert O&#8217;Brien said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":69906,"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":[101,8,23,93,12,25,67],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3280],"class_list":["post-58579","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-flashpoints","category-home","category-middle-column","category-news","category-newsletters","category-pentagon-congress"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"VU6DINR5CVHMVHKOSBF7WAKJ2Q","arc_canonical_url":"\/flashpoints\/2020\/10\/16\/national-security-advisor-despite-trump-tweet-afghanistan-christmas-withdrawal-unlikely\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>National security adviser: Despite Trump tweet, Afghanistan Christmas withdrawal unlikely - Marine Corps Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"&quot;When I\u2019m speaking, I\u2019m speaking for the president,&quot; Robert O&#039;Brien said.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/flashpoints\/2020\/10\/16\/national-security-advisor-despite-trump-tweet-afghanistan-christmas-withdrawal-unlikely\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"National security adviser: Despite Trump tweet, Afghanistan Christmas withdrawal unlikely\" 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