Ryan Shea 

As Trump’s presidency draws to a close, he plans for a parting shot in military action. He has called for the withdrawal of over 2,500 troops stationed in both Afghanistan and Iraq, expecting the beginning of their arrival back to the States to go into action by at least mid January. The question is, how did we get to this point, and what is Trump’s main purpose for enacting this mass withdrawal?

Back in 2017, Trump announced plans to cut back on military deployment in order to focus more of an effort on rebuilding the strength of the military, in hopes that this would keep the United States from getting into further foreign conflicts as has happened in the past. Granted, this was announced 3 years before his presidency came to an end, and he hasn’t been able to withdraw as many soldiers as anticipated over the extensive period of time, so the mass withdrawal being put into play before Joe Biden’s inauguration serves to remedy the plan last minute. Beyond that, Trump hopes that this plan will cut back on reckless military spending and make proper investments into their recruitment and training. In the midst of the withdrawal, Trump has been quoted saying, “They had — they were lined up to go out and wipe out the people that we just defeated the ISIS caliphate with, and I said, you can’t do that. You can’t do it.” For selective purposes, the Iraqi troops were ultimately searching for a red herring, while the Afghan troops are currently upholding a pact, and Trump hopes to keep peace and promise these outcomes with this plan. With the objective set in stone, it now needs to be known as to how this plan will be enacted.

With the troops in Iraq being sent on a wild goose chase, their withdrawal is to take top priority, as there’s little reason for them to stay in their station. Following that, with the Afghan troops making a pact for peace with the Taliban, their withdrawal will follow soon after to make sure that they keep up their end of the bargain as quickly as possible whilst not seeming too hasty in their want to uphold it. National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien elaborates upon this by saying, “They’ll enable our American allies in their important missions in those countries. They’ll defend our diplomats and they’ll deter our foes.” Trump’s plan for tending to foreign relationships won’t be fully seen to fruition with his presidency closing in on its end, but it’ll see some form of noteworthy progress in the days to come.