Pentagon: The number of US troops in Afghanistan and Iraq reduced to 2500

　　China News Service, January 16th, according to comprehensive foreign media reports, on the 15th local time, the Pentagon stated that the number of US troops stationed in Afghanistan and Iraq has dropped to about 2500.

　　According to Reuters, US Acting Secretary of Defense Miller said in a statement that the current number of US troops in Afghanistan has fallen to the lowest level since the beginning of the war in Afghanistan.

More withdrawals thereafter will depend on the progress of peace negotiations between the Afghan government and the Taliban.

Data map: Two hundred Georgia National Guard soldiers returned home after completing a nine-month mission in Afghanistan.

　　According to Agence France-Presse, Miller also confirmed that the number of US troops in Iraq has also fallen to about 2,500.

Miller believes that the reduction of the US military reflects "an increase in the capabilities of the Iraqi security forces."

Miller said that withdrawing troops "is not equivalent to a change in US policy."

The United States and the international coalition forces against the "Islamic State" will "continue to stay in Iraq to ensure defeat (Islamic State)."

　　The United States launched the war in Afghanistan after the September 11 terrorist attacks in 2001.

The US government and the Taliban in Afghanistan signed an agreement at the end of February 2020.

The United States promised to reduce the number of US troops in Afghanistan from approximately 13,000 to 8,600 within 135 days, and the remaining US and NATO coalition soldiers will be withdrawn from Afghanistan within 14 months.

In 2020, Afghan Taliban spokesperson Zabiullah Mujahid said that Taliban armed forces shot down an aircraft affiliated with the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and killed a large number of US soldiers, including senior CIA officials.

　　In addition, the United States launched the Iraq War in 2003 and withdrew its troops from Iraq at the end of 2011, leaving only a small number of soldiers.

In 2014, the "Islamic State" seized large areas of western and northern Iraq, and the United States subsequently increased its troops in Iraq. However, the US military's authority was limited to combating the "Islamic State" and providing support and training for the Iraqi government forces.