{"id":109464,"date":"2021-01-16T07:00:26","date_gmt":"2021-01-16T12:00:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/valorguardians.com\/blog\/?p=109464"},"modified":"2021-01-15T19:47:52","modified_gmt":"2021-01-16T00:47:52","slug":"us-down-to-2500-troops-each-in-afghanistan-and-iraq-as-ordered-by-trump","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/?p=109464","title":{"rendered":"US down to 2,500 troops each in Afghanistan and Iraq, as ordered by Trump"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Jeff LPH 3 sends in word from Military Times<\/a> that the Trump drawdown in Iraq and Afghanistan have finished. We’re now down to the lowest troop levels in either country for the past two decades.<\/p>\n

The U.S. military has met its goal of reducing the number of troops in Afghanistan and Iraq to 2,500 in each country by Friday, the Pentagon announced Friday morning, though the reduction in Afghanistan appears to violate a last-minute congressional prohibition.<\/p>\n

The drawdown in Afghanistan \u201cbrings U.S. forces in the country to their lowest levels since 2001,\u201d said acting Defense Secretary Chris Miller in a media release. \u201cThe drawdown of U.S. force levels in Iraq is reflective of the increased capabilities of the Iraqi Security Forces.\u201c<\/p>\n

Of the Afghanistan drawdown, Miller said: \u201cToday, the United States is closer than ever to ending nearly two decades of war and welcoming in an Afghan-owned, Afghan-led peace process to achieve a political settlement and a permanent and comprehensive ceasefire.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith a force of 2,500, commanders have what they need to keep America, our people and our interests safe,\u201d he said. \u201cWorking alongside our NATO allies and partners, the United States will continue to execute both our counterterrorism mission and the train, advise and assist mission in support of Afghan Security Forces working to secure peace in their country. Continued fulfillment of these two complementary missions seeks to ensure that Afghanistan is never again used to harbor those who seek to bring harm to the United States of America.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Iraq, \u201c[w]e have long anticipated that the force level required to support Iraq\u2019s fight against ISIS would decrease as Iraq\u2019s capability to manage the threat from ISIS improves,\u201d said Miller. \u201cOur ability to reduce force levels is evidence of real progress.\u201d<\/p>\n

The force reduction in Iraq \u201cis consistent with Operation Inherent Resolve\u2019s transition from major combat operations and does not equate to a change in U.S. policy,\u201d Miller said. \u201cU.S. and Coalition forces remain in Iraq to ensure the enduring defeat of ISIS. The Government of Iraq and the U.S. Government agree that ISIS remains a threat and that a U.S. and Coalition presence remains vital. \u201c<\/p>\n

There will still be \u201ca counterterrorism platform in Iraq to support partner forces with airpower and intelligence,\u201d said Miller. \u201cMost operations in Iraq were already being conducted by our Iraqi partners, enabled by U.S. and Coalition forces. We can continue to provide this support to our Iraqi partners at the reduced U.S. force level.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jeff LPH 3 sends in word from Military Times that the Trump drawdown in Iraq and … US down to 2,500 troops each in Afghanistan and Iraq, as ordered by Trump<\/span>Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":664,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[301,237,406,400,340],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-109464","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-afghanistan","category-big-pentagon","category-guest-link","category-iraq","category-trump"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109464","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/664"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=109464"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109464\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":109466,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109464\/revisions\/109466"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=109464"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=109464"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=109464"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}