Trump Says Time for US to Withdraw From Afghanistan

Trump wants all troops out 'as soon as reasonable'

In new comments on Wednesday, President Trump reiterated his belief that the US needs to get troops out of Afghanistan “as soon as reasonable.” He denied any specific date, in reference to comments that he wanted all troops out by the November election.

That’s not to say that the election date won’t happen. All indications are that the drawdowns are ahead of pace, and that could make a year-end goal very attainable. Trump says the troops in Afghanistan are just being a “police force” in Afghanistan, and that it’s time for them to police their own country.

Since the peace deal, violence has been on the decline in Afghanistan, and the Eid al-Fitr ceasefire between the Taliban and the Afghan government saw another substantial drop in conflict, leaving less and less of a war for the US to even theoretically fight.

Despite the pullout happening in a fairly stable way, some media outlets are very critical of the process, suggesting that President Trump is threatening the Taliban peace deal by advocating a pullout, even though it is a pullout that the Taliban has long sought.

Pentagon officials have not always been behind the drawdown plans, seemingly comfortable with the idea of letting momentum carry the troop deployment on for decades longer.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.