Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan in Brussels said US plans to reduce the number of forces in Afghanistan will be coordinated with allies.
In recent months, US officials have suggested to the Trump administration that half of the 14.000 US soldiers in Afghanistan should return home soon. The decision has several reasons: of a political nature within the US and strategic as part of the ongoing negotiations with the Taliban to support peace, or to give greater confidence to the Afghan special forces that are taking a much larger role in offensive operations against the Taliban themselves.
Shanahan and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg have made it clear that there will be cuts to a mission that lasts about 20 years.
The United States and the Taliban have agreed "in principle" to withdraw US forces, although, according to a US official, a real final peace agreement is still a long way off.
In this regard Stoltemberg said that "our military commanders are constantly evaluating our position, as they do for any other NATO mission".
Shanahan was asked if the allies had expressed concerns about the massive US withdrawal from Afghanistan as this would affect their respective countries' commitments.
Shanahan replied that "There will be no reduction of unilateral troops". "The probable withdrawal will be coordinated with the allies, we are together". "We also talked about how we can double our support for the Afghan National Security Forces to be able to put even more pressure on the Taliban"
No troop withdrawals, therefore, have yet been planned as the Afghan peace plan continues unabated. The proposed plan still needs, however, both the Taliban and the approval of the Afghan government.
Shanahan had some responses to the withdrawal plan during his recent visit to Kabul, where US-Afghanistan Forces Commander Gen. Scott Miller took him along with reporters to Camp Morehead. Base where the United States has trained about 14.000 Afghan troops, the goal is to train at least 22.000.
Although trained military personnel have been widely used at checkpoints, they will now be deployed on a large scale, Afghan General Bismillah Waziri said. Waziri also said he expects his military command force to reach full offensive capability by 2020.