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CVA on plans to accelerate drawdown of US troops in Afghanistan

By Concerned Veterans for America

Veterans group urges full withdrawal by end of January 2021

 

ARLINGTON, Va.—Concerned Veterans for America (CVA) executive director Nate Anderson on Monday responded in a letter to the White House to reports of President Trump ordering the further withdrawal of U.S. ground troops from Afghanistan. Anderson urged the president to pursue a full withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan, going beyond the reported drawdown to 2,500 troops. In the letter Anderson says:

“This will be the twentieth holiday season U.S. forces have spent in Afghanistan away from their families. Through their valiant efforts, our troops long ago achieved America’s principal objectives in the country by decimating Al Qaeda and severely punishing the Taliban. Unfortunately, previous administrations mired our troops in misguided nation-building efforts. This approach has proven costly and ineffective, leaving America no safer while aiding our rivals by keeping us bogged down in Central Asia.

We urge you to fully withdraw American troops from Afghanistan by the end of January 2021. This will finish the process you started to remove our troops from that country’s long- running conflict and secure your legacy as the Commander in Chief who ended America’s longest war.”

 

Read the full letter here.

 

BACKGROUND

In a recent op-ed, CVA Senior Advisor Dan Caldwell recently pointed to ending America’s war in Afghanistan, as a solid way for President Trump to secure his foreign policy legacy.

According to the agreement struck between the U.S. and the Taliban in February, all American troops are due to be withdrawn from the country by May of next year.

Polling commissioned by CVA earlier this year showed a continued increase in support for a more restrained foreign policy. From 2019 to 2020, support among veterans for withdrawing from Afghanistan rose 13 percentage points – from 60 percent to 73 percent. Among military family members, it rose 9 percent – from 60 percent to 69 percent.

CVA launched a $1.5 million national ad campaign in January aimed at bringing our troops home from Afghanistan. The group followed it up with a second phase of the campaign, which launched in July, continuing its nationwide grassroots effort. In total, the campaign has sent over 700,000 letters to leaders in Washington urging them to end our “forever wars.”