Defense Secretary Mark Esper said in an interview broadcast late Saturday that no more than 5,000 U.S. troops would remain in Afghanistan by the end of November as the Trump administration looks to move forward with a reduction of forces in the region.
“We’re going down to a number less than 5,000 by the end of November. We need to brief Congress [about] what that looks like,” Esper said on Fox News’s “Justice with Judge Jeanine.”
Esper cautioned that the troop reduction would be “conditions-based” and carried out as long as the Pentagon felt it could proceed with missions in the region with fewer troops.
