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WASHINGTON: Newly appointed Pentagon chief Christopher Miller signaled Saturday that he could accelerate the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan and the Middle East, saying, “It’s time to go home.”
“All wars must end,” said Miller, appointed Acting Secretary of Defense by President Donald Trump on Monday, in his first message to the US military.
He said the United States is committed to defeating Al-Qaeda, 19 years after the September 11 attacks on the United States, and is “on the brink of defeating” the group.
“Many are tired of war, I am one of them,” he wrote in the message, dated Friday but posted early Saturday on the Defense Department website.
“But this is the critical phase where we transition our efforts from a leadership to a supporting role,” he said.
“Ending wars requires commitment and partnership. We overcome the challenge; We gave it our all Now is the time to go home. “
Miller did not mention the specific deployment of US troops, but the reference to Al-Qaeda seemed to highlight Afghanistan and Iraq, where US troops were deployed after the 9/11 attacks.
The former U.S. special forces officer and counterterrorism expert was appointed to head the Department of Defense after Trump fired Mark Esper.
Trump, who lost to Democrat Joe Biden in the Nov.3 election, has been pushing to remove U.S. forces from both countries since he took office four years ago.
Any such action would have to occur in the 67 days before Biden takes office on January 20.
Esper cut US forces in Afghanistan by nearly two-thirds in the wake of the peace deal between the United States and the Taliban on February 29.
But, drawing a line, he said he would keep the troop number at 4,500 after this month until the Taliban, while negotiating with the government in Kabul, deliver on promised reductions in violence.
Trump, however, has pushed for the cuts to continue, tweeting that he wants troops to “come home by Christmas” on December 25. His national security adviser, Robert O’Brien, has said the goal is to cut to 2,500 by February.
But critics say this removes any leverage over Taliban insurgents to stop the attacks that continue amid little progress in their peace talks with the Afghan government.
