There could soon be fewer than 10,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan

Scott Olson/Getty Images

There could soon be fewer than 10,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan
(Image credit: Scott Olson/Getty Images)

By next year, the number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan could fall below 10,000, the minimum amount military leaders say should be there to train Afghan forces, Reuters reports.

There are close to 33,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan now, a significant reduction from the 100,000 troops stationed there in 2011. White House officials who have been briefed on the matter told Reuters that the number of troops left in country could wind up being less than 5,000 because Afghan security forces seem "robust enough" to contain a Taliban-led insurgency. The U.S. troops remaining would then focus on counter-terrorism and training operations.

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.