White House To Announce Withdrawal Of About 4,000 Troops From Afghanistan

U.S. troops patrol at an Afghan National Army (ANA) base in Logar province, Afghanistan on Aug. 7, 2018.Omar Sobhani / Reuters file

NBC: Trump admin intends to announce withdrawal of about 4,000 troops from Afghanistan

Trump had made clear to his advisers earlier this year that he wanted to withdraw all troops from Afghanistan by the November 2020 election.

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration intends to announce the drawdown of about 4,000 troops from Afghanistan as early next week, according to three current and former U.S. officials. The withdrawal will leave between 8,000 and 9,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan, the officials said.

The announcement would come just days after Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad rejoined diplomatic talks with the Taliban, which had broken down in September. On Thursday, Ambassador Khalilzad said the U.S. was "taking a brief pause" in talks after a Wednesday attack near Bagram Airfield killed two Afghan civilians and wounded 70 more.

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Update #1: Trump administration preparing to announce long-anticipated reduction of US troops in Afghanistan (CNN)
Update #2: Trump plans announcement of Afghan troop drawdown (NYPost)

WNU Editor: The White House has been promising to do this for a very long time.