Officials say U.S. to withdraw 7,000 troops from Afghanistan

Catherine Garcia, The Week US's avatar
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The Pentagon has been ordered to begin planning a reduction of troops in Afghanistan, a senior defense official told CBS News on Thursday.

There are 14,000 troops in the country now, and 7,000 will return home as part of the first phase of the drawdown. On Wednesday, Trump said he intends to pull all U.S. troops from Syria, a move criticized by Democrats and Republicans alike. The United States has had a presence in Afghanistan since shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US
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.