Rep. Mac Thornberry, R-Texas, said he was “deeply disturbed” by reports Friday that President Trump is preparing to pull thousands of troops from Afghanistan.
The impending withdrawal of half the 14,000-strong force in the country would make it more difficult for the remaining troops to protect themselves, give the Taliban an opening, and allow terrorist groups to rebuild and launch attacks on the U.S., Thornberry, the House Armed Services chairman, said in a statement.
Reports of the dramatic shift in Afghanistan come just after Trump order ground troops out of Syria where they are fighting the Islamic State. The two decisions triggered the resignation Thursday of Defense Secretary Jim Mattis.
“Considerable progress has been made in the last two years against terrorist organizations in a variety of places around the world,” Thornberry said. “Reducing the American presence in Afghanistan and removing our presence in Syria will reverse that progress, encourage our adversaries, and make America less safe.”
Trump has ordered the Pentagon to begin bringing 7,000 troops home from Afghanistan in the coming weeks and could complete the drawdown within months, the Wall Street Journal reported.
The decision is a sharp break with a strategy championed by Mattis and announced by Trump in August of last year. The Pentagon surged about 4,000 troops into the country in an effort to put pressure on the Taliban after 17 years of war and drive it into peace negotiations.
Trump had grudgingly accepted the strategy but was never fully convinced, saying at the time that his first instinct was to withdraw from Afghanistan.
The president announced on Wednesday that the U.S. had completed its mission in Syria and defeated the Islamic State group despite estimates that about 2,000 terrorist fighters may remain in a pocket of resistance after four years of war.
“I’ve done more damage to ISIS than all recent presidents….not even close!” Trump tweeted on Friday.
