10 things you need to know today: April 22, 2014

Meb Keflezighi
(Image credit: (AP Photo/Steven Senne))

1. The U.S. might cut its Afghanistan force to 5,000

The U.S. next year might cut the number of troops it leaves in Afghanistan below 10,000, which is the minimum military leaders say will be needed to train Afghan forces, Reuters reports. There are close to 33,000 American soldiers in Afghanistan now, down from 100,000 in 2011. White House officials, encouraged by Afghanistan's surprisingly smooth April 5 presidential election, are considering reducing the number below 5,000.

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Harold Maass, The Week US

Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.