Afghanistan: U.S. Has Been Reducing Presence Over Past Year, Commander Says

[Swordsmyth]

The United States has pulled out 2,000 troops from Afghanistan over the past year, leaving just over 12,000 in the country, according to the top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan, The Washington Post reported Oct. 21.

More at: https://worldview.stratfor.com/situa...commander-says

[Warlord]

The Count and Zippy won't like to hear this...

[Swordsmyth]

The Count and Zippy won't like to hear this...

My heart bleeds.

[TheCount]

The United States has pulled out 2,000 troops from Afghanistan over the past year, leaving just over 12,000 in the country, according to the top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan, The Washington Post reported Oct. 21.

More at: https://worldview.stratfor.com/situa...commander-says

Trump's Afghan surge was 4000 soldiers. Subtract 2000 and you're still +2000 from when Trump took office.

That's also 3000 more than he said would be there. You know, the last time you celebrated his troop numbers.

*womp womp*

[Swordsmyth]

Trump's Afghan surge was 4000 soldiers. Subtract 2000 and you're still +2000 from when Trump took office.

That's also 3000 more than he said would be there. You know, the last time you celebrated his troop numbers.

*womp womp*

I told you he had started to remove troops and you called me a liar.

Trump had been following the advice of Mathis and others when he increased the numbers but now he has turned in the other direction and is going to bring the troops home.

[TheCount]

I told you he had started to remove troops and you called me a liar.

You have been saying that he has been removing troops for quite some time.

You said this only one month ago:

Trump already withdrew 7,000 so there is no connection here except that you are hoping that people won't notice that the headline is old and will think Trump is sending more troops instead of withdrawing.

By your numbers, Trump has now withdrawn 10,000 troops from Afghanistan and yet there are still 12,000 there. Do you believe that to be the truth?

[Swordsmyth]

You have been saying that he has been removing troops for quite some time.

And he was:

The United States has pulled out 2,000 troops from Afghanistan over the past year

You said this only one month ago:




By your numbers, Trump has now withdrawn 10,000 troops from Afghanistan and yet there are still 12,000 there. Do you believe that to be the truth?

I was incorrect about that number because I hadn't seen the new that the 7,000 number had been changed, we now know that there are about 12,000 there.

More will continue to leave, the tide has turned.

[TheCount]

I was incorrect about that number because I hadn't seen the new that the 7,000 number had been changed, we now know that there are about 12,000.

I'm glad that you accept the current number of 12,000. That makes things a lot easier. If 2000 have left and there are 12,000 remaining, then Trump nearly doubled the number of soldiers in Afghanistan from 8,300 in 2017 up until whenever they started reducing.

So it's not +4000 -2000, it's +6000 -2000.

Oh, and that extra 2000 soldiers that he sent... above what he said he was going to send... he never told us about that. Huh. Funny, that... he tells us about the reductions (even the false withdrawals that never happen) but never the increases. What would you call that? Lies, maybe?

More will continue to leave, the tide has turned.

Oh yeah, and he's solving the deficit and debt too.

[enhanced_deficit]

Pulled like 'Syria withdrawal' (moved from Syria to Iraq)?

Were the fraction of his surge that came out of Afghanistan moved to Israel/Saudi mideast region as part of 14,000 troops surge in mideast in 2019 or those returned home?

US added 14,000 troops to mideast from May-Oct 2019.

Trump had been following the advice of Mathis and others when he increased the numbers but now he has turned in the other direction and is going to bring the troops home.

Wasn't that the whole point of appointing Pompeo, Bolton and Mattis to follow their advice?

Exercise caution though still in your anti-globalism optimism, Ivanka on whose advice he reportedly bombed Syria is still his senior advisor. His pro Iran bloackade/Iran war top donor, who happens to be Israeli military IDF member, is also still there. Global interventions board games are all connected.

[enhanced_deficit]

This is positive development if 2000 of his 5000 surge already out of there despite MAGA abruptly cancelling peace deal couple of weeks ago.

Hopefully Iran war driven neocons won't try to derail this again, lately surprising reports about sudden surge of ISIS and bombings violence there.
MAGA leadership should be raising question with experts, who is the founding father of this sudden birth or rebirth of ISIS there?

CENTCOM chief warns 'very worrisome' ISIS presence in Afghanistan
June 14, 2019
A senior U.S. general says that ISIS remains a "very worrisome" presence in Afghanistan, but it is unlikely to mount an attack on the U.S. homeland because it is under strong military pressure.



ET Bureau's irresponsible reporting on US military 'promoting ISIS in Afghanistan'

Return of ISIS: Taliban fight ‘join ISIS in droves’ - ‘US is concerned’

ISIS is once again on the rise, with the terror group now boasting as many as 14,000 fighters in Afghanistan alone.

By Emily Ferguson
Tue, Sep 17, 2019

ISIS 'developing' with new caliphate claims expert

The Afghan branch of ISIS, known as Islamic State Khorasan (IS-K), is gaining ground as Taliban hardliners angry about peace negotiations with the US have “joined ISIS in droves”, according to experts. IS-K, formed in 2014 and known for its ruthless violence and gory propaganda videos on social media, is believed to be responsible for a surge in violence of ISIS violence this year. The attacks have raised fears of an ISIS resurgence even though the group was defeated in its Iraqi and Syrian heartlands earlier this year.

Related articles
ISIS fighter who claimed UK benefits while fighting in Syria is caught

The Financial Times reported the expansion of the ISIS affiliate across Afghanistan has led to growing concern the group will create a haven for terrorists to organise violence abroad, recreating the conditions that allowed al-Qaeda to organise the 9/11 attacks on the US.

Afghanistan is seen as an important region to recuperate and plan their next phase of operations.

Jonathan Schroden, a military analyst at research organisation CNA, said: “The US is most concerned about IS-K as potentially the next big thing inside ISIS.”
Another expert said the ISIS affiliate is growing steadily in size, as new recruits are joining IS-K from across the Middle East.


ISIS is one again on the rise with as many as 14,000 fighters in Afghanistan (Image: NC)

Antonio Giustozzi, war historian and author of The Taliban at War, said: “The ISIS caliphate is gone but it reorganised in Afghanistan after a period of disruption.

US military allegedly promoting ISIS in Afghanistan

There are allegations that weapons are often transferred to the territory of Afghanistan by helicopters without identifying insignia.

ET Bureau
Apr 22, 2019

The US military is allegedly allowing members of the ISIS, which have suffered serious defeats in Syria and neighboring Iraq, to infiltrate Afghanistan even as US is engaged with peace talks with Taliban for sake of stability in the landlocked country.

There are allegations that weapons are often transferred to the territory of Afghanistan by helicopters without identifying insignia. With the US and NATO fully controlling the skies over Afghanistan, there is every reason to believe they had a hand in that, or at least, did not hamper these flights, sources alleged.

USA and Brussels, however, deny any such role. USA said that the Islamic State terror group is losing its grip on parts of Afghanistan, slowly succumbing to pressure from U.S. and Afghan forces

Former Afghan President Hamid Karzai had once told al-Jazeera television news network that the US is colluding with Daesh in Afghanistan, and allowing the Takfiris to flourish in his conflict-stricken country.

[TheCount]

This is positive development if 2000 of his 5000 surge already out of there despite MAGA abruptly cancelling peace deal couple of weeks ago.

Yeah, super great news. Like when he cuts the budget 1% after increasing it 5%.

[TheCount]

If only Trump hadn't decreed in 2017 that troop levels in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria are secret and will not be reported to the American public. Not like we have any business knowing that information anyway.


Oh well, I'm sure he did that because he's bringing the numbers way down. That makes sense, right?

[Warlord]

None of us are perfect, Count. However the direction of travel is encouraging.

[TheCount]

None of us are perfect, Count. However the direction of travel is encouraging.

The direction is still upward.

I'm not giving him credit for reducing his own increase. Not for his budget and not for his troop levels.

[devil21]

How many private contractor mercs are taxpayers paying for now instead?

https://www.militarytimes.com/news/y...d-afghanistan/

In 2016, one in four U.S. personnel in Iraq and Afghanistan was a private contractor. This means that the war is already being outsourced, yet scholars, the media and the general public know almost nothing about it.

Because contractors operate in the shadows, without effective public oversight, they allow policymakers to have their cake and eat it too – by appearing to withdraw, while keeping proxy forces in theater.
....................
It’s hard to get data about private military contractors, mainly because of the proprietary business secrets. Despite the fact that those companies act as proxies of the state, they are not legally obligated to share information with the public on their actions, organization or labor force.