President Trump is reportedly planning to withdraw 4,000 troops from Afghanistan as part of a pledge he made this summer to end American involvement in conflict in the area.

Three current and former United States officials told NBC News the president is planning to announce the immediate withdrawal that will see a massive reduction in the current number of troops in the region, which are now between 12,000 and 13,000. The news could come as early as next week and follows renewed peace talks with the Taliban.

"We're going down to 8,600 and then we make a determination from there as to what happens," Trump said in August. "We're bringing it down."

Trump has been consistently critical of U.S. military presence in Afghanistan and has vowed to end the war that has gone on for more than 18 years. Despite his vow to remove all U.S. troops in the country, however, Trump approved an increase of troops in 2017.

The Taliban has also indicated it would agree to a ceasefire. Defense officials told CNN that the remaining U.S. military presence in the country will be focused on counter-terrorism.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/trump-preparing-to-withdraw-4-000-troops-from-afghanistan

It's about time....

https://nypost.com/2019/12/14/lying-by-bush-and-obama-over-afghanistan-is-this-eras-pentagon-papers/

Quote from: taxed on December 15, 2019, 01:01:55 PM
It's about time....

https://nypost.com/2019/12/14/lying-by-bush-and-obama-over-afghanistan-is-this-eras-pentagon-papers/

Exactly!
Sure, we could have easily defeated any foe, but that was never the intention amongst the Establishment war machine, and their ability to make one Hell of a profit off the deaths of our loved ones.
Trump sees it and is putting an end to it. Heads are exploding.

Quote from: Solar on December 15, 2019, 01:06:41 PM
Exactly!
Sure, we could have easily defeated any foe, but that was never the intention amongst the Establishment war machine, and their ability to make one Hell of a profit off the deaths of our loved ones.
Trump sees it and is putting an end to it. Heads are exploding.

Maybe you can shed some light onto this Solar, as I am not to privy to the Afghanistan war.. What is our overarching goal in this region? I of course believe we do not need troops on the ground in order to execute American policy, but there is clearly some reason why we have been there for so long outside of fighting the Taliban. I don't think it's for oil, but I could be wrong. Care to shed some light on this? I apologize for being ill informed on this matter in advance

Quote from: ConservativeInCT on December 15, 2019, 02:52:54 PM
Maybe you can shed some light onto this Solar, as I am not to privy to the Afghanistan war.. What is our overarching goal in this region? I of course believe we do not need troops on the ground in order to execute American policy, but there is clearly some reason why we have been there for so long outside of fighting the Taliban. I don't think it's for oil, but I could be wrong. Care to shed some light on this? I apologize for being ill informed on this matter in advance

Bush never gave a good reason. He claimed the Taliban were being supported by the heroin trade, but when we started destroying their crops, SHTF from the locals who depended heavily on it for their income.
I remember hearing they were trying to get them to grow other crops.
Thing is, they never did what they claimed they were going to do, and nothing really changed (but we did kill a bunch of Taliban) and when we leave it will revert back to what it was.
Essentially billions were wasted in Afghanistan, but the war machine made out like bandits.  No, we never had any business there, the CIA had accomplished far more than anybody, then we sent troops in and made a mess of their work.
Thing is, we're fighting an ideology that will never change, so it's best we leave them to their own misery.

Quote from: Solar on December 15, 2019, 03:07:16 PM
Bush never gave a good reason. He claimed the Taliban were being supported by the heroin trade, but when we started destroying their crops, SHTF from the locals who depended heavily on it for their income.
I remember hearing they were trying to get them to grow other crops.
Thing is, they never did what they claimed they were going to do, and nothing really changed (but we did kill a bunch of Taliban) and when we leave it will revert back to what it was.
Essentially billions were wasted in Afghanistan, but the war machine made out like bandits.  No, we never had any business there, the CIA had accomplished far more than anybody, then we sent troops in and made a mess of their work.
Thing is, we're fighting an ideology that will never change, so it's best we leave them to their own misery.

So it would be safe to consider this some failed attempt to fight a war on drugs? I do understand that it is a battle of ideology, and there is pretty much nothing we can do to end that. I have heard comments from teachers saying that if we pull out of Afghanistan, then Taliban funding of other terror groups could lead to an increase in attacks? Though I have not seen any evidence to support this. I also hear the common saying that just our presence there prevents further action on the terrorists, though this to I do not think is correct.

Quote from: ConservativeInCT on December 15, 2019, 03:10:45 PM
So it would be safe to consider this some failed attempt to fight a war on drugs? I do understand that it is a battle of ideology, and there is pretty much nothing we can do to end that. I have heard comments from teachers saying that if we pull out of Afghanistan, then Taliban funding of other terror groups could lead to an increase in attacks? Though I have not seen any evidence to support this. I also hear the common saying that just our presence there prevents further action on the terrorists, though this to I do not think is correct.

There funding was cutoff when McStain was exposed. Keep in mind, the Deep-state was behind this, they hate the US and Trump is bringing them to their knees.

Quote from: ConservativeInCT on December 15, 2019, 02:52:54 PM
Maybe you can shed some light onto this Solar, as I am not to privy to the Afghanistan war.. What is our overarching goal in this region? I of course believe we do not need troops on the ground in order to execute American policy, but there is clearly some reason why we have been there for so long outside of fighting the Taliban. I don't think it's for oil, but I could be wrong. Care to shed some light on this? I apologize for being ill informed on this matter in advance

I beleive a lot of it had to do with a nuclear armed Pakistan which is of course at odds with our kinda sorta "ally" India, also nuclear armed. I think the initial fear was the Taliban/Paki Jihadi's would become powerful enough to overthrow the Paki Govt (Who are a bunch of scum bags to begin with), get their hands on a nuke which would practically mandate India doing a prevetative first strike. I oher words total war in that region with Iran steppig in to cause mischeif ad pick up the pieces. So tie up the Taliban fighting US Grunts

now where do you suppose the Taliban was getting resupplied from...yeah thats right the same Paki's who hid Usama two blocks from a police station.

So the war profiteers were making money from all sides

Lindsey Graham is going to have a stroke.