WASHINGTON — The U.S. military has met its goal of reducing the number oftroops in Afghanistan to about 2,500 by Friday, a drawdown that appears toviolate a last-minute congressional prohibition.
President Donald Trump, who ordered the reduction in November, saidThursday that troop levels in Afghanistan had reached a 19-year low,although he did not mention a troop number. Last February hisadministration struck a deal with the Taliban to reduce American trooplevels in phases and to go to zero by May 2021, although it is unclear howthe incoming Biden administration will proceed.
President-elect Joe Biden, who has advocated keeping a smallcounterterrorism force in Afghanistan as a way to ensure that extremistgroups like al-Qaida are unable to launch attacks on the United States,faces a number of questions on Afghanistan. One is how and whether toproceed with further troop cuts.
Trump in his brief statement alluded to his longstanding desire to get outof Afghanistan entirely.
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“I will always be committed to stopping the endless wars,” he said,referring to U.S. wars that have dragged on in Afghanistan since 2001 andin Iraq for much of the period since 2003.
