Graham warns Trump about Afghanistan drawdown
Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) on Sunday publicly warned President Trump against a full or precipitous withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan, days ahead of an unofficial Sept. 1 deadline for a deal. The United States and the Taliban are close to announcing an agreement on an initial U.S. troop withdrawal ... Under the proposed deal, the initial withdrawal would include roughly 5,000 of the 14,000 U.S. troops in the country.
Graham said Sunday that he is worried Trump will go further than that. He argued that maintaining a robust counterterrorism force is necessary because it’s “an insurance policy against another 9/11.” “The number remaining in Afghanistan is going to be around 8,600,” Graham said of U.S. troop levels in an interview on CBS’s “Face the Nation.” “To go below that, I think, would be really risky.”
According to the proposed deal, the Taliban would agree to renounce al-Qaeda and to bar it from activities such as fundraising, recruiting, training and operational planning in areas under Taliban control. Graham has repeatedly warned the president not to trust the Taliban to control al-Qaeda and other militant groups in Afghanistan. Trump has maintained that bringing all U.S. troops home from Afghanistan is his long-term priority.
“In one day, on 9/11, we lost 3,000 Americans because we took our eye off the ball in Afghanistan. .?.?. Mr. President, if you don’t have a counterterrorism force left behind, even if you gotta deal with the Taliban — which I doubt, but you might — they don’t have the capability or will to protect the American homeland,” Graham said.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/as-sept-1-deadline-nears-graham-warns-trump-about-afghanistan-drawdown/2019/08/25/c0b52eda-c769-11e9-be05-f76ac4ec618c_story.html
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