Pentagon: About five thousand soldiers will remain in Afghanistan

SANAA, Aug 9 (YPA) –  US Defense Secretary Mark Esper announced that US will reduce the number of its forces in Afghanistan from about 8,600 to less than five thousand, after signing an agreement with the Taliban under which the latter would assume power in exchange for keeping US forces in the country.
In an interview with Fox News that was aired on Saturday, Esper said that the United States plans to reduce the size of its forces in Afghanistan to “fewer than five thousand” by the end of next November.

Trump had said in an interview published by Axios on Monday that the United States plans to reduce this number to about 4,000.

The United States concluded an agreement with the Taliban on February 29, in which the Afghan government was not a party, and its main provisions include Washington keeping thousands of soldiers in Afghanistan protecting them and not being exposed to the Taliban in return for the latter’s handing over of power in the country.

The United States invaded Afghanistan, claiming to fight what it called the terrorism that the Taliban protect, and here it is today after 19 years of chaos, devastation, killing and deteriorating conditions at all levels of security, economic and social handover Afghanistan to those who came to fight them yesterday.