President Trump has announced that the United States will keep around 8,900 troops in Afghanistan to maintain a presence after reaching a deal with the Taliban.
According to The Hill:
President Trump said Thursday he will reduce the number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan to 8,600 but the U.S. will maintain a presence after a deal with the Taliban is reached in the 18-year war.
“We’re going down to 8,600, and then we’ll make a determination from there as to what happens,” Trump said in an interview on Fox News radio.
Trump stressed the need for a residual presence to prevent an attack on the United States, adding that if such an attack were to happen “we would come back with a force like they’ve seen never before.”
“Oh yeah, you have to keep a presence,” Trump said. “We’re going to keep a presence there. We’re reducing that presence very substantially, and we’re going to always have a presence. We’re going to have high intelligence.”
The deal essentially states that the United States will withdraw troops so long as the Taliban does not use Afghanistan to launch terrorist attacks against the United States.
