President Trump is seriously considering a “significant drawdown” of U.S. troops who are stationed in Afghanistan, a senior U.S. official told Fox News on Thursday.
The potential maneuver would involve more than 3,000 U.S. troops getting pulled out, the source said. There are 15,000 troops currently on the ground in Afghanistan.
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The development was first reported by The Wall Street Journal, which added that the withdrawal could take place in the coming weeks.
A separate official said that the morale in meetings at the Pentagon has never been worse than in recent days. Trump on Wednesday declared, via Twitter, victory over the Islamic State, and that the U.S. would be pulling all 2,000 troops from Syria — surprising many within the Department of Defense.
His declaration of victory contradicted his own experts' assessments and sparked outrage among Republicans, most notably Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.
Graham called the decision to withdraw troops from Syria "Obama-like," and publicly pleaded with the president on Twitter Thursday to "follow sound military advice when it comes to withdrawing from Syria and the fight against ISIS."
Fox News' Elizabeth Zwirz contributed to this report.
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