US President Donald Trump did not order the Pentagon to withdraw US troops from Afghanistan, White House National Security Council spokesman Garrett Marquis said. "The president did not make the decision to reduce the US military presence in Afghanistan and did not ask the Defense Department to initiate the process of withdrawing its personnel from Afghanistan," Marquis said in a statement reported Friday by "Bloomberg". . In early December, the Nova agency wrote, US media reported that Trump had ordered the Pentagon to develop a plan for the withdrawal of about half of the 14 US troops in Afghanistan, coinciding with the announcement by the president of the withdrawal of US forces from Syria.
However, the clarification, writes Bloomberg, could do little to allay growing alarm among world leaders and members of both sides of Congress who criticized the president's sudden decision last week to begin the withdrawal troops from Syria, a move that prompted Defense Secretary Jim Mattis to step down. While he has not spoken publicly about Afghanistan, the president has repeatedly stated that he was eager to bring troops home from abroad so that he could concentrate on defending the US borders.