a memory refresher from 2018:
https://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-...substantial-afghan-troop-drawdown-11545341452
wsj.com
Trump Orders Big Troop Reduction in Afghanistan
WASHINGTON—A day after a contested decision to
pull American military forces from Syria, officials said Thursday that President Trump has ordered the start of a reduction of American forces in Afghanistan.
More than 7,000 American troops
will begin to return home from Afghanistan in the coming weeks, a U.S. official said. The move will come as the first stage of a phased drawdown and the start of a conclusion to the 17-year war that officials say could take at least many months. There now are more than 14,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan.
Mr. Trump announced Wednesday that he would pull all of the more than 2,000 American troops from Syria.
Taken together, the Syria withdrawal and the likely Afghan drawdown represent a dramatic shift in the U.S. approach to military engagement in hot spots around the world, reflecting Mr. Trump’s aversion to long-running military entanglements with their high costs and American casualties.
“I think it shows how serious the president is about wanting to come out of conflicts,” a senior U.S. official said of how the Syria decision affects his thinking on Afghanistan. “I think he wants to see viable options about how to bring conflicts to a close.”
this was Trump regarding the present cluster in Afghanistan:
https://www.bostonherald.com/2021/0...over-3000-troops-being-rushed-to-afghanistan/
Trump blasts Biden over 3,000 troops being rushed to Afghanistan
Former President Donald Trump is blasting his predecessor’s rush to pull embassy workers out of Kabul and sending 3,000 troops to Afghanistan to help with the airlift.
In a series of emails,
Trump said if he was still in office “the world would find that our withdrawal from Afghanistan would be a conditions-based withdrawal.”
His criticism comes as cities and towns are falling to the Taliban with Kabul in their sights.
“I personally had discussions with top Taliban leaders whereby they understood what they are doing now would not have been acceptable. It would have been a much different and much more successful withdrawal, and the Taliban understood that better than anyone. What is going on now is not acceptable. It should have been done much better,” Trump said.
so, to be fair, trump started withdrawing troops from afghanistan but it is also clear that per the plan in 2018 the withdrawal would have been much more measured.
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