This archive report was first published on 21 October 2019.
U.S. Troop Reduction in Afghanistan: A Shift in Strategy ¶
As the world's attention is focused on the retreat of American forces from the front line in Syria, the United States has begun quietly reducing its troop force in Afghanistan. The reduction, which has already dropped by 2,000 troops over the last year, is part of a gradual process of not replacing troops as they cycle out.
According to General Austin S. Miller, the top American commander in Afghanistan, the size of the American force in the country has already quietly dropped to roughly 12,000. This reduction is part of a plan to eventually drop the force size to as low as 8,600, roughly the size of an initial reduction envisioned in a draft agreement with the Taliban before President Trump halted peace talks last month.
The confirmation of the troop reduction came during a visit to Afghanistan by Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper. Esper seemed to allude to some potential reduction in American forces, saying that drawing down to 8,600 troops would not affect important counterterrorism operations in Afghanistan.
The decision to reduce American troops even before a deal with the Taliban means the United States is weakening its hand in future negotiations with the insurgents. And it is likely to mean a significant shift away from the United States military's longstanding mission of training the Afghan military as American officials concentrate on counterterrorism operations.
At the height of the war, in 2010 and 2011, there were more than 100,000 American troops in Afghanistan, aided by tens of thousands of NATO allies in what made up one of the biggest military coalitions in the world. Now, a further reduction in American forces would mean that the burden of training the Afghan military would fall more heavily on the roughly 8,500 NATO forces and other allies in the country.
NATO's secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, would not speculate on any reduction of troops, but added that NATO remains committed to the mission in Afghanistan.
