And so it begins, U.S. troops start to withdraw from Afghanistan

[Swordsmyth]

The U.S. military is reducing troops in Afghanistan from 8,600 to about 4,500 by early November, the head of U.S Central Command said Wednesday, hours after he announced the withdrawal of more service members from Iraq this month.  

More at: https://www.voanews.com/usa/centcom-us-will-cut-troop-levels-afghanistan-4500

 

[phill4paul]

The U.S. military is reducing troops in Afghanistan from 8,600 to about 4,500 by early November, the head of U.S Central Command said Wednesday, hours after he announced the withdrawal of more service members from Iraq this month.  

More at: https://www.voanews.com/usa/centcom-us-will-cut-troop-levels-afghanistan-4500

So he is cutting troops by half in BOTH Iraq and Afghanistan.

I'm sure RPF's favorite negative Nancies will be along any minute to tell us why this is such a terrible thing.

 

[Swordsmyth]

So he is cutting troops by half in BOTH Iraq and Afghanistan.

I'm sure RPF's favorite negative Nancies will be along any minute to tell us why this is such a terrible thing.

He has said we will be leaving entirely from BOTH.
And if we leave Iraq we will have to leave Syria.

 

[Swordsmyth]

A US negotiator on Friday voiced understanding for Afghanistan's transfer of Taliban prisoners who killed citizens of France and Australia, saying the "big picture" was to end the war.

France and Australia both opposed the prisoners' release, which has been pushed by US President Donald Trump's administration as the Taliban made the freedom of hundreds of fighters a condition to meet with Afghanistan's government.

After Kabul overcame hesitation and released the militants, the two sides will open landmark talks in Doha on Saturday in the presence of US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

"I know that none of us are happy about the release of prisoners that committed violence against forces but we want to keep the big picture in mind," said Zalmay Khalilzad, the US negotiator on Afghanistan.

The start of the talks can ensure that Afghanistan "never again becomes a threat to any of us," he told reporters.

"None of the countries that are concerned have made this an issue that will affect relations with Afghanistan," he said.

"They don't like it but at the same time they understand that this was an Afghan decision -- a decision that was difficult but necessary, they felt, at the end to start intra-Afghan negotiations and to give peace a chance."

Khalilzad also indicated that the United States could soon remove some Taliban from its terrorism blacklist.

He said that the US-Taliban agreement set the start of intra-Afghan talks as a condition to start reconsidering sanctions.

"We are committed to the terms of the agreement," he said.

Two Taliban prisoners who murdered Frenchwoman Bettina Goislard, a UN refugee worker, were released in the province of Wardak.

Six other militants including two who killed French and Australian soldiers were transferred on a special plane to Doha where it is unclear what will happen to them.

More at: https://www.yahoo.com/news/us-backs-release-taliban-killed-155255001.html

 

[Swordsmyth]

As reported by Breitbart News, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told reporters on his way to attend peace talks with the Taliban and the Afghan government in Doha, Qatar that “if the Taliban follow through on their word, the United States is committed to removing all American forces from Afghanistan once and for all.”

The United States welcomes the announcement that Afghanistan peace negotiations will begin September 12. This is an historic moment and Afghanistan’s best chance at ending forty years of war and bloodshed.
— Secretary Pompeo (@SecPompeo) September 10, 2020

“Our commitment to reducing our forces to zero is conditioned on them executing their obligations under the agreement,” Pompeo said. “We’ve been very clear about their responsibilities with respect to the terrorist activity taking place in Afghanistan that is plotting external operations. It’s very clear that the violence levels have to come down to acceptable levels. We saw just yesterday or the day before there are a lot of spoilers out there. There are people who don’t want this to go forward. They want America mired in this place. They don’t want peace in Afghanistan. Most of the Afghanistan people want that. We’re going to stay focused on it.

More at: https://saraacarter.com/pompeo-time-to-get-out-of-afghanistan-reduce-our-forces-to-zero/

 

[Swordsmyth]

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told Breitbart News exclusively — after meetings between Afghan government officials and Taliban leaders as part of the beginning of intra-Afghan peace negotiations — that the process is moving along on pace for a full withdrawal of all U.S. forces from Afghanistan by the spring of 2021.

More at: https://www.breitbart.com/politics/...-pathway-achieve-zero-u-s-forces-afghanistan/

 

[Brian4Liberty]

https://twitter.com/RepThomasMassie/status/1304236546082648065

 

[Swordsmyth]

With the Pentagon expected to reduce troops levels in Afghanistan down to 4,500 by the November elections, and with the still negotiated US-Taliban peace deal facilitating this, on Tuesday a Pentagon official told Congress it can expect American presence there to be completely ended by May 2021.

More at: https://www.zerohedge.com/geopoliti...s-preparing-full-afghan-troop-withdraw-spring

 

[Todd]

Guess where more troops are slated to go in 2021? Yep .....moving from Afghanistan to another region in the ME.

Shuffling shit around the theatre isn't bringing the troops home.

 

[RJ Liberty]

I would love it if Trump finally withdrew the troops. But as Libertarian Institute author Christian Britschgi pointed out last month:

The Journal reports that the departure of some 1,700 troops from Iraq will occur over the next few months. Once gone, America's military presence in that country will be where it was in 2015.


Under Trump, America's troop commitment to our various foreign wars has oscillated; first surging then tapering off.
PolitiFact notes that when Trump came into office there were around 8,500 troops in Afghanistan. The president increased our military presence up to 14,000 personnel but has since drawn it back down to where it was at the beginning of Trump's term. That number is supposed to fall to 4,000 in November.


Under Trump, the Defense Department has stopped publishing troop numbers in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Syria, making it difficult to get an accurate count of how much military personnel is in those countries. The Washington Post reported in July that the number of U.S. troops stationed abroad has slightly increased under Trump.


Outside of troop levels, Trump has amped up the drone war and vetoed a resolution to end U.S. participation in the war in Yemen. He has also escalated tensions with Iran by tearing up the 2015 nuclear deal signed under the Obama administration, reapplying sanctions, and deploying additional aircraft and ships to the region in response to alleged Iranian drone attacks on Saudi oil facilities.


In January, the Trump administration assassinated Iranian general Qassem Soleimani, provoking an Iranian missile counterattack on U.S. military bases in the country.

WTF are we doing in Yemen and deploying aircraft to Iran? WTF are we doing provoking counterattacks?

(I know, I know. TReason.)

 

[Swordsmyth]

Guess where more troops are slated to go in 2021? Yep .....moving from Afghanistan to another region in the ME.

Shuffling $#@! around the theatre isn't bringing the troops home.

BUNK.

Trump is also withdrawing from Iraq and even from places like Saudi Arabia.

And ending a war and leaving the war zone is a good thing even if the troops did go to a non-war zone instead of coming home.

 

[Todd]

BUNK.

Trump is also withdrawing from Iraq and even from places like Saudi Arabia.

And ending a war and leaving the war zone is a good thing even if the troops did go to a non-war zone instead of coming home.

So says the guy with no insight, no proof and no clue. I don't speak on this ignorantly. There are dozens of troop deployments slated for TY21. To all sorts of regions...Jordan, Kuwait, Afghanistan, to replace the security details in and around Baghdad, to replace the troops in Yemen.
You are just angry that you can't see it because your heads so far up Trumps ass.

and all you got is "Bunk". GTFOH.

 

[Swordsmyth]

So says the guy with no insight, no proof and no clue. I don't speak on this ignorantly. There are dozens of troop deployments slated for TY21. To all sorts of regions...Jordan, Kuwait, Afghanistan, to replace the security details in and around Baghdad, to replace the troops in Yemen.
You are just angry that you can't see it because your heads so far up Trumps ass.

and all you got is "Bunk". GTFOH.

LOL

Of course there are scheduled deployments, it's called troop rotation.
Trump is not bringing all of the troops home at once but I have repeatedly posted the proof that Trump is withdrawing thousands of troops from many countries.

All you have is bunk.

 

[Todd]

LOL

Of course there are scheduled deployments, it's called troop rotation.
Trump is not bringing all of the troops home at once but I have repeatedly posted the proof that Trump is withdrawing thousands of troops from many countries.

All you have is bunk.

Uggh! You’re defeating your own argument. Lol.
I’m glad you agree we are just shuffling shit around and that no one is actually coming home.

 

[enhanced_deficit]

So it begins circa 2018, Syria series...

 

[Swordsmyth]

Uggh! You’re defeating your own argument. Lol.
I’m glad you agree we are just shuffling $#@! around and that no one is actually coming home.

You can't be this obtuse.

More are coming home than are going out, Trump is leaving Afghanistan completely and Iraq completely but not all at once, he is also decreasing the number of troops in other places.

But they don't leave units overseas permanently so they constantly send out new units to replace old units that are coming home.

 

[Todd]

You can't be this obtuse.

More are coming home than are going out, Trump is leaving Afghanistan completely and Iraq completely but not all at once, he is also decreasing the number of troops in other places.

But they don't leave units overseas permanently so they constantly send out new units to replace old units that are coming home.

Thanks. I was in the army for over 30 years so appreciate your education buttmunch

 

[Swordsmyth]

Thanks. I was in the army for over 30 years so appreciate your education buttmunch

Thank you for confirming that your misrepresentations are the result of malice rather than stupidity.

 

[enhanced_deficit]

OP, instead of indulging in personal attacks and calling others names, care to answer a simple question:

Is it true that there are 8,000-10,000 more troops in mideast today than there were when GOPA funded leader took charge of White House?


If so, isn't it time to stop 'So it begins/So it flip-flops again' type vague and misleading headlines & "very soon xyz would happen" promises and start citing concrete numbers?

There will be plenty of time to celeberate after your predictions have come true, I hope they do.

 

[Todd]

Thank you for confirming that your misrepresentations are the result of malice rather than stupidity.

I have no idea what you are trying to stay little one, but no one's been misrepresenting anything around here but a paid shill like you.