The U.S. government’s official position on the drawdown of troops in Afghanistan is now completely FUBAR.

Most recently, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff reiterated that troop withdrawals from Afghanistan will be based on conditions on the ground, even though President Donald Trump has tweeted that all U.S. service members in Afghanistan should be home by Christmas.

“I default back to we have a plan,” Army Gen. Mark Milley told National Public Radio in an interview that aired on Monday. “It's a conditions-based plan, and right now, the only number that's publicly out there that I am aware of in terms of any sort of official number is 4,500 in the not-too-distant future by November. And that's the plan.”

But Milley’s comments appear to contradict both Trump and National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien, who said on Oct. 7 that the U.S. should be down to 2,500 troops in Afghanistan by early next year.

That same day, Trump went even further by tweeting: "We should have the small remaining number of our BRAVE Men and Women serving in Afghanistan home by Christmas!"

https://taskandpurpose.com/news/mark-milley-white-house-afghanistan-withdrawal