(CNN) America's most senior general publicly pushed back Sunday at an announcement by President Donald Trump's national security adviser that the US will aggressively reduce the number of troops in Afghanistan by the end of the year irrespective of conditions on the ground. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley was responding to comments last week from Robert O'Brien that the US would reduce the number of US troops in the country down to 2,500 by the beginning of 2021, from a current level of about 4,500, stressing that any future drawdowns would be conditions based. "Robert O'Brien, or anyone else, can speculate as they see fit, I am not going to engage in speculation, I'm going to engage in the rigorous analysis of the situation based on the conditions and the plans that I'm aware of in my conversations with the President," Milley told NPRThe future of the US military's involvement in Afghanistan remains clouded in uncertainty following contradictory comments from senior members of the administration. Hours after O'Brien's comments last Wednesday, Trump tweeted that "we should have the" remaining 4,500 US troops in Afghanistan "home by Christmas," an even more aggressive timeline than the one laid out by his national security adviser.

Source: CNN October 12, 2020 15:22 UTC