WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Donald Trump is planning to withdraw more than 5,000 of the 14,000 US troops in Afghanistan, a US official said on Thursday, in the latest sign Trump’s patience is thinning with America’s longest war and overseas military interventions. Instead, the United States almost certainly would have to curtail its missions, something that could provide an opportunity for a resurgent Taliban to expand their offensives across Afghanistan. Mattis had argued for maintaining a strong US military presence in Afghanistan to bolster diplomatic peace efforts. Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, often a vocal Trump ally, warned of possible danger to the United States if the drawdown goes through. Trump last year approved an increase in US troops but acknowledged that he did so reluctantly.

Source: Egypt Independent December 21, 2018 09:04 UTC