The U.S. military will halve the number of troops it has in Afghanistan within the next two months and cut a smaller number in Iraq, Pentagon officials said Tuesday, as President Donald Trump seeks to move closer to keeping a 4-year-old campaign promise despite concerns that the decision in Afghanistan could undermine negotiations with the Taliban.
Acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller announced the plan in a speech at the Pentagon, eight days after he took over for fired Defense Secretary Mark Esper, who submitted a classified memo to the White House recommending that the conditions on the ground in Afghanistan did not warrant such reductions.
Miller said the U.S. military will carry out Trump's orders in both countries by Jan. 15, with the numbers reduced from about 5,000 to 2,500 in Afghanistan and from about 3,000 to 2,500 in Iraq. He took no questions from reporters but said he was celebrating the decision.
"We owe this moment to the many patriots who made the ultimate sacrifice and our comrades who carry forward their legacy," Miller said. "Together, we have mourned the loss of more than 6,900 American troops who gave their lives in Afghanistan and Iraq, and we will never forget the more than 52,000 who bear the wounds of war, and all those who still carry its scars -- visible and invisible."
The decision in Afghanistan comes about nine months after the Trump administration and the Taliban reached a deal that will remove all U.S. troops there by May if certain conditions are met.
Senior U.S. military officials have raised concerns about the Taliban's commitment to meeting the terms of the deal, citing a spike in violence against Afghans since the agreement was signed and ongoing questions about whether the militant group will break with al-Qaida.
[Video not showing up above? Click here to watch » https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kh0eqeA2wCQ]
Miller said the troops cuts are consistent with the administration's established plans and strategic objectives, and based on continuous conversations with national security advisers in his Cabinet.
During his remarks, Miller did not mention Esper's dissent but said he had spoken with military commanders in recent days, "and we will all execute this repositioning in a way that protects our fighting men and women, our partners in the intelligence community, our diplomatic corps, and our superb allies."
The decision has already received a cool reception from some Republican leaders on Capitol Hill and a critique from NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg.
"I believe these additional reductions of American troops from terrorist areas are a mistake," said Rep. Mac Thornberry of Texas, who is the ranking Republican on the House Armed Services Committee. He said the Taliban, whose hold on power in Kabul was destroyed when U.S. troops invaded the country in October 2001, have "done nothing -- met no condition -- that would justify this cut."
Rep. Adam Smith, a Washington Democrat and chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, endorsed the Trump decision.
"Our primary goal has been, and continues to be, the prevention of transnational terrorists from launching an attack against the United States from Afghanistan," Smith said. "In order to contain the terrorist threat as we draw down our troop levels, it is critical that we coordinate the drawdown closely with our allies, as well as our partners in the Afghan government, to protect our interests and those of our allies in Afghanistan."
Stoltenberg earlier Tuesday warned that NATO could pay a heavy price for leaving Afghanistan too early.
NATO has fewer than 12,000 troops from dozens of nations helping to train and advise the Afghan national security forces. The 30-nation alliance relies heavily on the United States armed forces for transport, logistics and other support.
"We now face a difficult decision. We have been in Afghanistan for almost 20 years, and no NATO ally wants to stay any longer than necessary," Stoltenberg said in a statement. "But at the same time, the price for leaving too soon or in an uncoordinated way could be very high."
"Afghanistan risks becoming once again a platform for international terrorists to plan and organize attacks on our homelands," he said. "And ISIS could rebuild in Afghanistan the terror caliphate it lost in Syria and Iraq," Stoltenberg added, referring to the Islamic State militant group.
A U.S. drawdown in Afghanistan would gut NATO operations in the country. The organization is reliant on U.S. personnel and infrastructure. The expectation at NATO is that if the United States pulls out, everyone else will also, given the importance of U.S. logistical capabilities in Afghanistan.
Under the leadership of the Taliban, Afghanistan became a safe haven for Islamist extremists in the 1990s. After the al-Qaida terrorist attacks on the United States on Sept. 11, 2001, U.S. airstrikes and Afghan resistance forces ousted the Taliban from power for hosting Osama bin Laden, the mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
NATO forces poured in after the Taliban fell, and in 2003 a U.S.-led NATO mission took control of international security efforts in the country. In his statement Tuesday, Stoltenberg emphasized the high cost that NATO allies have paid. "Hundreds of thousands of troops from Europe and beyond have stood shoulder to shoulder with American troops in Afghanistan, and over one thousand of them have paid the ultimate price," he said.
Information for this article was contributed by Dan Lamothe, Adam Taylor and Michael Birnbaum of The Washington Post; and by Robert Burns, Lolita C. Baldor and Aamer Medhani of The Associated Press.