US troops in Afghanistan to be 'home by Christmas,' Trump tweets

Donald Trump plans to pull all remaining US troops from Afghanistan “by Christmas,” he tweeted on Wednesday, roughly 90 minutes before the vice presidential debate between Senator Kamala Harris and his vice president, Mike Pence.

“We should have the small remaining number of our BRAVE Men and Women serving in Afghanistan home by Christmas!” the president tweeted.

He did not immediately provide any further details.

The US first invaded Afghanistan 19 years ago to the date of Mr Trump’s tweet.

The US Defense Department told Congress last month it planned to draw down the number of troops in Afghanistan to between 4,000 and 5,000 by the end of November.

“We've long maintained that our force presence in Afghanistan is conditions-based,”  David F Helvey, the assistant secretary of defence for Indo-Pacific security affairs, told a House Oversight subcommittee on national security on 22 September.

“This August, the president [decided] that the conditions of Afghanistan were sufficient to reduce our force presence to between 4,000 and 5,000 by the end of November 2020,” Mr Helvey said at the hearing.

Until Mr Trump’s Twitter announcement on Wednesday, the administration had not announced any further concrete plans to reduce the American presence in Afghanistan, the Middle Eastern country where the US has waged war and kept a security force since shortly after the September 11 terrorist attacks in 2001.

It is the longest-running continuous military operation in US history.

 The DOD had previously announced plans to draw down to zero troops in Afghanistan by May 2021.

The US will not execute those withdrawal plans, however, unless the Taliban follows through on promises it made in a deal struck with NATO allies earlier this year.

The remaining US troops in the region participate in the NATO-led Resolute Support Mission that trains, advises, and provides resources to the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces.

Western forces also have a counterterrorism command that works with partners in the country to root out terrorism threats.

One of Mr Trump’s chief pitches during his successful 2016 campaign was to stop “endless wars” in the Middle East.

He has repeatedly pressured his defence advisers to yank US forces from countries such as Syria and Afghanistan — often publicly, to the consternation of top DOD officials.

Roughly 700 US troops remain in Syria. About 3,000 are in Iraq, and roughly 5,000 are in Afghanistan.