U.S. agrees to reduce Afghanistan troops in deal with Taliban

Troops in Afghanistan.
(Image credit: Getty Images)

The Trump administration has agreed to withdraw up to 6,000 of its remaining 14,000 troops from Afghanistan in a deal with the Taliban, in exchange for a cease-fire and renunciation of al Qaeda, The Washington Post reports. The terms, if approved, would amount to an initial accord on ending the 18-year war in the country.

"I would say that they are 80 or 90 percent of the way there," one official said. "But there is still a long way to go on that last 10 or 20 percent." Some U.S. and Afghan officials are expected to approach the deal with skepticism, as they question the Taliban's trustworthiness. The deal was struck after months of negotiations between the Taliban and Afghan-born U.S. diplomat Zalmay Khalilzad.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us
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.