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In a memo to his staff, US Acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller said that his country remains committed to defeating Al Qaeda, expressing its determination to accelerate the withdrawal from Afghanistan and the Middle East, saying: “It is time to go back home”.
Miller sent his first message to the US military since outgoing President Donald Trump appointed him acting secretary of defense on Monday.
“All wars must end,” Miller said, noting that the United States is determined to defeat al Qaeda, 19 years after the September 11 attacks on the United States, and that it “is about to defeat” the organization.
Miller made it clear that the earlier strategic mistake of not continuing to fight until the elimination of Al Qaeda must be avoided.
“Many are tired of war, and I am one of them, but this is the crucial stage in which we transform our efforts from a leadership role to one of solidarity,” added the new minister in the message he wrote in the early Saturday on the website of the Ministry of Defense.
“Ending wars requires concessions and partnerships – we rose to the challenge and did all we could – now is the time to go home,” Miller said.
Miller did not specifically mention the location of the troop deployments, but the reference to al-Qaeda seemed to hint at Afghanistan and Iraq, where the United States sent troops in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks.
Trump had surprised observers by firing Mark Esper and naming Miller, a former Special Forces officer and counterterrorism expert, to replace him, after Trump lost to Democrat Joe Biden in the presidential election, though he has yet to admit the defeat.
Esper had reduced the number of troops in Afghanistan by about two-thirds in the wake of a peace accord between the United States and the Taliban on February 29, but Trump tweeted that he wanted the soldiers to “come home for Christmas” on December 25th.
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