Fresh off the announcement of a US military withdrawal from Syria, officials are saying that the Trump Administration is ordering a major drawdown of US troops from Afghanistan, potentially starting in the next few weeks. The Pentagon has been ordered to begin the planning immediately.



Details are still emerging on this discussion, but the recent struggles of the Afghan War have been very well publicized, and the Taliban’s negotiations with the US has centered on them wanting the US to withdraw under any peace deal.



With the August 2017 escalation in Afghanistan having gone poorly, there have been reports for months of the administration changing direction. The Pentagon had been pushing hard against a drawdown, however, trying to emphasize the large death tolls in Afghanistan as a sign of progress.



But the drawdown could be coming very soon, according to officials. They say that the first US troops could be returning home as soon as January. Though official troop levels aren’t well documented anymore, there are an estimated 14,000 US troops in Afghanistan. Roughly half of the troops, 7,000 of them, are said to be coming home.



Author: Jason Ditz Jason Ditz is news editor of Antiwar.com. View all posts by Jason Ditz