There could soon be fewer than 10,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan
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.
Officials say the optimism stems from the relatively smooth election that took place on April 5, when an estimated 60 percent of eligible voters turned out despite threats by the Taliban.
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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.
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