Milley and Esper Testify U.S. Wants To Withdraw Troops from Afghanistan

Dec. 12, 2019 (EIRNS)—U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Mark Milley and Defense Secretary Mark Esper told a Dec. 11 hearing of the House Armed Services Committee that the Trump Administration wants to withdraw troops from Afghanistan.

“Short answer is yes,” Esper replied to a question of whether the Pentagon contemplated having a minimal footprint in the country purely for the purposes of fighting terror. Milley said the United States has “multiple options,” among them being a smaller footprint. “Our military strategy in Afghanistan is to continue to deny Afghanistan as a safe haven for terrorist attacks on our homeland,” Milley said according to AP.