U.S. to reduce troop strength in Iraq, Afghanistan, defense official says

The Trump administration will greatly reduce the number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan and Iraq by Jan. 15, a Defense Department confirmed Monday with Just the News. 

The troop strength in each country will drop by several thousand, the official said. The official is not authorized to speak to the press, and spoke on the condition of anonymity.

"This is no surprise," the official said. "The president signaled he would do this. It's just a matter of working out the numbers and the dates."

The expected drawdowns would occur five days before the 2021 presidential inauguration is set to take place. 

Acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller, who was appointed to replace the recently fired Mark Esper, on Friday reportedly sent a memo to Defense Department employees regarding overseas wars.

"This is the critical phase in which we transition our efforts from a leadership to supporting role," acting Miller said in his memo. "We are not a people of perpetual war – it is the antithesis of everything for which we stand and for which our ancestors fought. All wars must end."

He also wrote: "We met the challenge; we gave it our all. Now, it's time to come home."

The homecoming would leave roughly 2,500 troops each in Afghanistan and Iraq, the Defense Department official said.

Currently, about 5,000 troops are in Afghanistan; more than 3,000 are in Iraq; and an estimated 1,000 are in Syria.

The drawdown will be orchestrated by U.S. Central Command, which is based in Tampa, Florida, and has U.S. military responsibility for Iraq and Afghanistan.