{"id":135131,"date":"2019-08-29T17:20:10","date_gmt":"2019-08-29T17:20:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/uncategorized\/2019\/08\/29\/trump-says-8600-us-troops-will-stay-after-afghanistan-withdrawal\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T23:49:53","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T23:49:53","slug":"trump-says-8600-us-troops-will-stay-after-afghanistan-withdrawal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2019\/08\/29\/trump-says-8600-us-troops-will-stay-after-afghanistan-withdrawal\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump says 8,600 US troops will stay after Afghanistan withdrawal"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

WASHINGTON \u2015 President Donald Trump said he plans to withdraw thousands of U.S. forces from Afghanistan, but will keep 8,600 there for the foreseeable future, pending the outcome of U.S. peace talks with the Taliban<\/a>, which appear to be concluding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going down to 8,600 and then we make a determination from there as to what happens,\u201d Trump told Fox News Radio<\/a>, repeating that the U.S. \u201ccould win that war so fast<\/a>, if I wanted to kill 10 million people … which I don\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The U.S. has about 14,000 troops in Afghanistan, alongside international troops, to advise and assist Afghan defense forces and to fight extremist groups like the Islamic State and al-Qaida.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump said the bulk of these could be withdrawn, but stressed that the U.S. will maintain some kind of troop presence in Afghanistan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou have to keep a presence,\u201d he said, adding that the U.S. would be reducing troops \u201cvery substantially.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

U.S. Central Command on Thursday told Military Times that no troops have yet been ordered out of Afghanistan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe mission has not changed,\u201d said Army Lt. Col. Earl Brown, a CENTCOM spokesman.<\/p>\n\n\n\t