CNN: US military ordered to begin planning to withdraw about half the troops in Afghanistan
The US military has been ordered to begin planning to withdraw about half the troops in Afghanistan, a US defense official with direct knowledge of the matter told CNN on Thursday.
The official said planning is underway, and it could take months to withdraw the nearly 7,000 troops.
The decision was made Tuesday, at the same time as President Donald Trump's decision to withdraw the US military from Syria -- moves that precipitated Defense Secretary James Mattis' resignation announcement on Thursday.
The Wall Street Journal was first to report the plan for the Afghanistan withdrawal.
Read more ....
Military And Intelligence News Briefs -- December 21, 2018
US troop withdrawal from Afghanistan to have little impact, official says -- AP
Syria exit has Pentagon scrambling amid withdrawal outrage -- FOX News/AP
Graham demands hearings on Trump plan to withdraw troops from Syria -- The Hill
Much Ado About 2,200 Troops in Syria -- The Atlantic
Mattis Is Out As Defense Secretary In Wake Of Trump's Sudden Syria Withdrawal Order -- Warzone/The Drive
Who will Trump tap to replace Mattis? -- Military Times
Shanahan poised to rewire the Pentagon with Mattis out -- Defense News
US allies and adversaries are in shock and bracing for an unchecked Trump as Mattis resigns -- Business Insider
Mattis, once one of ‘my generals,’ loses clout with Trump -- Anne Gearan and Josh Dawsey, Stars and Stripes/The Washington Post
US Army moves closer to equipping an active protection system on Bradley Fighting Vehicles -- Defense News
The Army Wants To Try Out Next-Generation Rifle Prototypes Sooner Than You Think -- Task & Purpose/Military.com
What the Army Might Do To Replace the M4 Rifle Could Be Historic -- Business Insider/Task & Purpose
The Army is developing a lighter, more agile comms kit -- C4ISRnet
Boeing, Sikorsky awarded $1.1B for Special Ops helicopter support -- UPI
The US Air Force is finally going to get its brand-new tanker after years of delays -- Reuters
Joint Threat Emitters Train Pilots How To Defeat Enemy Air Defenses And The USAF Wants More -- Warzone/The Drive
Has The US Military Created A Small Class Of Killers? -- Task & Purpose
House Armed Services chairman says military funding should not be spent on wall -- CBS
NATO just held its largest war games since the Cold War — one of more than 100 exercises the alliance carried out in 2018 -- Business Insider
Kosovo assures NATO of transparency in army transformation -- ABC News
Kosovo's vote to create army divides international community -- Axios
Russian warship en route to Azov Sea from Crimea - Reuters witness -- Reuters
Russia says it won't let U.S. see missile at heart of nuclear dispute -- Reuters
Major Chinese shipyard rapidly expands in size amid military buildup -- CNN
Japan Beefs Up Military Might With Record Spending -- Wall Street Journal
Brazil’s oil revenue is set to fuel multibillion-dollar warship program -- Defense News
They're Back! Drones Briefly Bring Reopened Gatwick Airport To A Grinding Halt Again -- Warzone/The Drive
7 comments:
Well, what I hope is this:
Trump is transactional, right? i.e. he trades something for something else.
So - lets just for fs pretend he's trading the withdrawl for something. Biggest winners of this withdrawl - according to leftist media - is Putin. PUUUUTIN! RUUUUSSSIA! they go.. anyways.. if that's the case, and they truly win so much and love it so much, what are they trading with Trump?
Unless Trump is truly a Putin puppet, a traitor (death penalty), a spy, it is very unlikely that he just does it for free. So what is he trading it for?
Or is he really more like a pacifist (tread softly, but carry a big stick) or at least non-neocon? That's actually good. Unless a war is properly defined and justified, we should not be in it.. and Afghanistan goes on for almost 18 years, and generals keep telling him "stay".. if a general cannot win in 18years despite trillions spent, what makes anyone on the left think they could do it in 30 years, or 50? According to all we know, the numbers of insurgents and radicalized people went up. So nothing is working, therefore I really like that Trump has the balls - yet again - to do what he believes is right, and what on paper looks right, even if the media - once again - uses innuendo to portray him as a putin puppet (e.g. on CNN, just today and yesterday "trump leaves Syria, why does he do that? Only Russia wins".. the why - if you read the whole article - is of course, because he's a traitor, a putin puppet, an idiot.. that's cnn's take. but then again, CNN is the same network that brings you intellectual light weights masquarading as journalists/informed people. Look at Don Lemon, Anderson Cooper, all share an IQ of about 90. And the knowledge they have you can pick up at a bar.)
" If war flares between Russia and Ukraine, what will the US and UK do?"
Hopefully, thermo nuclear war or worse.
What will the poor trolls do with out electricity to power the internet?
Screech in some irradiated town square until the the few living drag them down.
But seriously a all out war is better than war by proxy.
It is more honest.
More chance of Santa sleigh being shot down than any nation (Russia included) going to war over Ukraine
Lori,
It all comes down to Ukrainian President Poroshenko. Does he want to create an incident that he feels will benefit him politically, but one that will not result in a shooting war. My brain says no .... there will be no shooting war between Russia and Ukraine, but my gut tells me to not trust Poroshenko, an opinion that I would say is shared by about 80% of the Ukrainian population.
As to the Budapest Memorandum. There is no political will in the West to raise tensions to that level, even though security guarantees were given to Ukraine when the agreement was signed in 1994.
"There is no political will in the West to raise tensions to that level, even though security guarantees were given to Ukraine when the agreement was signed in 1994."
I talked to an educated Ukrainian. They are pissed at Russia.
Russia is the bad actor here.
Of course Russia is the bad actor. They invaded the Ukraine just a couple years ago and pretended for months it wasn't them lol..
Russia also invaded Georgia just a few years back..think 2007 or 2008.
Russia sides with Assad who barrel bombs children and hospitals and pretty much everything else
Russia has killed more people with polonium than polonium than people died of accidental radiation exposure world wide
And with Russia I mean the Kremlin. Ordinary Russians are fun to be around. Know a few-some of the funniest and smartest people I know. But the Kremlin is pure evil. Like Dick Chenney. ..Just many more of them
Dick Cheney is evil ... because we say so.
Kind of short on specifics there.
Maybe Mueller can dig into his past and find an aide who didn't pay all of his taxes in 1992.
But perhaps they can give Cheney the Mitt Romney or Bret Kavanaugh treatment and reach back to high school and find a friend of his, who did not pay taxes on his lawn mowing.
BTW Cheney is spelled Cheney and not Chenney. Gotta love a foreign troll.
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