...The man who was so stupid he beat fourteen professional politicians, a former tech CEO, and a brain surgeon for the Republican nomination in 2016, then beat
The Smartest Woman in the Worldin the general election...
on Wednesday repeated that he wanted to bring American troops back from Afghanistan, saying the US is acting as a police force and it is time for Afghans to police their country.
"We are acting as a police force, not the fighting force that we are, in Afghanistan. After 19 years, it is time for them to police their own Country. Bring our soldiers back home but closely watch what is going on and strike with a thunder-like never before, if necessary!" tweeted Trump.
Earlier, news agencies reported that Trump on Tuesday at a White House news conference renewed his desire for a full military withdrawal from Afghanistan.
"We’re there 19 years and, yeah, I think that’s enough... We can always go back if we want to," said Trump.
Trump also said: "Well, I think everyone knows we're down to less than 8,000 troops. We're with leadership in many different fields and in many different parts of that country. We're dealing with the Taliban
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, we're dealing with the president. The president now has gotten himself straightened out with the two presidents, but we're dealing with - because they had, as you know, they had competing factors and factions."
The troop pullout discussion references the peace deal that the US signed with the Taliban on February 29, an agreement that also set a deadline for the US troops to leave the country.
But the Afghan government, which considers the US its strategic partner, has reacted with dismay to the troop withdrawal as the country still grapples with a Taliban insurgency.
During his election campaign in 2016, Trump promised to end the wars like the one in Afghanistan.
| Courtesy of Lex: |
[MSN] Senior military officials are set to brief President Trump in the coming days on options for pulling all American troops out of Afghanistan, with one possible timeline for withdrawing forces before the presidential election, according to officials with knowledge of the plans.
The proposal for a complete withdrawal by November reflects an understanding among military commanders that such a timeline may be Mr. Trump’s preferred option.
But they plan to propose, and to advocate, a slower withdrawal schedule, officials said.
The move is part of the Pentagon’s attempt to avoid another situation like the one in December 2018 and again in October 2019, when Mr. Trump surprised military officials by ordering the complete withdrawal of U.S. troops from Syria. Diplomatic chaos and violence followed, and the president subsequently modified each announcement. American troops remain in Syria, although in smaller numbers.
US ahead of schedule in cutting Afghanistan troop strength
[AlAhram] U.S. troop strength in Afghanistan is down to nearly 8,600, well ahead of a schedule agreed with Talibs in late February, in part because of concerns about the spread of the coronavirus (aka COVID19 or Chinese Plague)
...the twenty first century equivalent of bubonic plague, only instead of killing off a third of the population of Europe it kills 3.4 percent of those who notice they have it. It seems to be fond of the elderly, especially Iranian politicians and holy men..., U.S. and NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A cautionary tale of cost-benefit analysis....
officials said.
A key provision of the Feb. 29 agreement between the Taliban
...the Pashtun equivalent of men...
and the United States, to which the Afghan government was not a party, involved a U.S. commitment to reduce its military footprint in Afghanistan from about 13,000 to 8,600 by mid-July and, conditions permitting, to zero by May 2021.
A U.S. official said the United States had focused on quickly removing non-essential personnel and those considered to be at high risk from the virus.
U.S. forces are in Afghanistan to conduct counter-insurgency operations. A few thousand U.S. soldiers work with troops from 37 NATO partner countries to train, advise and assist Afghan forces. NATO's mission in the country totalled 16,551 troops in February, according official data available on its website.
On Tuesday, U.S. President Donald Trump
...Perhaps no man has ever had as much fun being president of the US...
there were "7,000-some-odd" U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan but officials clarified that number was slightly over 8,600 troops.
Trump renewed his desire for a full military withdrawal from Afghanistan but added that he had not set a target date, amid speculation he might make ending America's longest war part of his re-election campaign.
NATO DILEMMA
The faster-than-expected withdrawal has put NATO in a dilemma as to whether it should consider swiftly sending back some non-U.S. troops from Afghanistan as well, two NATO sources said.
"The drawdown by the U.S. was expected to be done in 135 days but it's clear that they have almost completed the process in just about 90 days," said a senior Western official in Kabul on condition of anonymity.
The official said that some other NATO soldiers would be withdrawn before schedule.
"All allies have to maintain a fine balance on troop withdrawal as we cannot forget the fact that the war in Afghanistan is far from over," he said.
The Taliban have recently increased attacks in a number of provinces, despite the Afghan government releasing prisoners as per the U.S.-Taliban agreement signed in Doha. According to data from Afghan and Western sources seen by Rooters, the Taliban have mounted more than 4,500 attacks since signing the deal.
Officials are now looking at the pace of the drawdown beyond 8,600.