The U.S. withdrawal of more troops from Afghanistan will depend on a reduction in violence and other conditions agreed in February with the Taliban, the top general said in an interview broadcast Monday.
“The whole agreement and all of the drawdown plans are conditions-based,” Gen. Milley told NPR. “The key here is that we’re trying to end a war responsibly, deliberately, and to do it on terms that guarantee the safety of the U.S. vital national security interests that are at stake in Afghanistan.”
U.S. top General’s comments come days after the U.S. President Donald Trump tweeted that the United States should withdraw all remaining U.S. troops in Afghanistan “by Christmas”.
“We should have the small remaining number of our BRAVE Men and Women serving in Afghanistan home by Christmas!” President Trump tweeted on Wednesday, October 7.
Last week, Trump’s National Security Advisor Robert O’Brien said at an event at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas that service members will be reduced to 2,500 by early next year.
The United States, under a peace deal it signed with the Taliban movement on late February, was committed to gradually draw down the number of its troops from Afghanistan.
Since the deal, it has reduced the number of troops to less than 5,000.
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