In a recent statement, U.S. President Donald Trump praised his military policy over the past four years.
In a statement Thursday (Jan. 14), Trump said that the number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan is now “at its lowest level in 19 years. In the statement, he also highlighted a key initiative carried out to begin the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan after nearly 20 years in the country.
The president also said, “Likewise, the troop presence in Iraq and Syria is at its lowest point in many years. I will always be committed to stopping the endless wars.”
The president continued, “It is an honor to rebuild our military and support our brave men and women in uniform. $2.5 trillion in investments, and beautiful new equipment – all made in America.”
Last month, Congress passed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which President Trump criticized as going against his foreign policy stance on his efforts to withdraw troops from Afghanistan, South Korea and Germany. Trump vetoed the bill, but both the House and Senate subsequently voted to override his veto.
Acting Defense Secretary Chris Miller said in November that he would reduce the number of U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan to about 2,500 each.
“I am officially announcing that we will carry out President Trump’s order to continue to redeploy troops from these two countries,” Miller said at a Pentagon news conference. “I celebrate this day.” He said the withdrawal of U.S. troops was due to the president’s “bold leadership.
Trump, a longtime critic of the 2003 invasion of Iraq, said on the campaign trail in 2016 that he would stop the “endless wars” the U.S. has been waging and bring American men and women in uniform overseas back to their homeland. in 2018, he wrote that the U.S. would withdraw from Syria, leading then-Pentagon chief James Mattis (D-N.Y.) to say that the U.S. would withdraw from Syria. James Mattis (D-Mass.) to resign.
Last November, U.S. Ambassador to Syria Jim Jeffrey acknowledged that officials concealed the actual number of U.S. troops in Syria from Trump and implied that this was done to keep U.S. troops in Syria.
In an interview, Jeffrey said, “We’ve been playing a con game, not wanting the leadership to know how many troops we actually have there.” He added that the true number of troops is “far greater” than the roughly 200 troops Trump initially agreed to withdraw from Syria last year. Jeffries’ admission has caused considerable backlash on social media.
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