WASHINGTON — President Trump’s nationwide safety adviser introduced on Wednesday that the US would reduce its troops in Afghanistan to 2,500 by early subsequent yr.
However hours later, his boss contradicted him, suggesting a timeline as early as Christmas and prompting confusion amongst administration officers.
“We must always have the small remaining variety of our BRAVE Males and Ladies serving in Afghanistan dwelling by Christmas!” Mr. Trump posted on Twitter.
Requested concerning the tweet, a senior U.S. navy official was silent for a second earlier than saying, “Oh my God!” The official mentioned he was not conscious of such a call.
However Mr. Trump usually takes to Twitter to announce coverage, often to the shock of these concerned. The president has forecast troop withdrawals, as an illustration, even with out apprising the Pentagon, as he did with Syria in 2018 in a transfer that prompted the resignation of Defense Secretary Jim Mattis.
The senior U.S. navy official, who spoke on the situation of anonymity to debate inside assessments, raised questions concerning the timing of the conflicting feedback on troop cuts in Afghanistan from Mr. Trump and his adviser, Robert C. O’Brien, which got here shortly earlier than the vice-presidential debate began.
Earlier on Wednesday, Mr. Brien forecast a discount to 2,500 service members from the 4,500 that officers had estimated would stay in Afghanistan by November. That quantity, administration officers calculated, would give the president the chance to attempt to inform voters that he had wound down America’s longest conflict. However such a drawdown is more likely to be contingent on the end result of the election.
“When President Trump took workplace, there have been over 10,000 American troops in Afghanistan,” Mr. O’Brien mentioned throughout an occasion on the College of Nevada, Las Vegas. “As of right this moment, there are underneath 5,000, and that can go to 2,500 by early subsequent yr.”
Former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., the Democratic nominee, additionally does not favor a significant troop presence in the country. However ought to he win workplace, his administration is more likely to conduct a assessment of Afghanistan coverage.
Senior navy officers have argued all yr {that a} fast withdrawal from Afghanistan would successfully doom the peace deal reached in February with the Taliban.
In latest months, Mr. Trump has repeatedly voiced a need to depart the nation ahead of the timeline specified by the Feb. 29 peace agreement with the Taliban, which stipulated that U.S. troops would withdraw in 12 to 14 months if the rebel group met sure circumstances.
The Pentagon has tried to work round a commander in chief who has frequently stunned the navy together with his selections. Taliban and Afghan government-backed negotiators, for his or her half, are nonetheless struggling to advance intra-Afghan peace talks, though the 2 sides lately agreed on a broad code of conduct.
Because the discussions have continued, so too has the preventing. In a big tactical shift, the Taliban have carried out focused assaults, like bombings and assassinations, to exert pressure while maintaining deniability for the violence.
In Doha, Qatar, the place the talks are going down, chief negotiators from each side have known as for persistence, however sticking factors stay, like which college of Islamic thought to make use of for resolving disputes.
Whereas each events largely agree on utilizing the Hanafi college of Islamic thought, one of many 4 main Sunni faculties that can be the inspiration of the present Afghan Structure, they’re at odds on a formulation that doesn’t alienate different sects, significantly the Shia.
“In the end, the Afghans themselves are going to must work out an accord, a peace settlement,” Mr. O’Brien mentioned. He added, “We expect Individuals want to come back dwelling.”
