The Pentagon has been working on contingency plans for a swift drawdown of US forces in Afghanistan following US President Donald Trump’s abrupt policy change on Syria, NBC News reported citing current and former Pentagon officials.
The officials emphasized that the White House has not given any order to withdraw US troops from Afghanistan yet, the report said.
Earlier on Monday, US General Austin Scott Miller, the Resolute Support Mission commander, said in Kabul that the United States had already reduced its strengths by 2,000 troops in Afghanistan over the last year.
On 6 October, Trump announced the withdrawal of US troops from northern Syria. Defense Secretary Mark Esper later confirmed the United States would pull out 1,000 servicemen from the country’s northeast.
