A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the military was expecting formal orders in the coming days to go down to about 2,500 troops in Afghanistan by early next year from around 4,500 currently.

A NATO official also cited expectations of a 1,500 to 2,000 troop decline.

Trump fired his defense secretary, Mark Esper, and appointed other top Pentagon officials last week after longstanding concerns that his priorities were not being dealt with urgently enough at the Defense Department.

They included ending the 19-year-old Afghan engagement by Christmas, an ambitious target that opponents of the country’s longest war welcomed but which Trump’s critics warned could be reckless given ongoing militant violence plaguing Afghanistan.

Afghanistan has featured in a flurry of introductory calls by acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller, Esper’s replacement, to U.S. allies’ defense ministers and chiefs of defense, a senior U.S. defense official told Reuters.

“It was a part of many of them because it is of great importance to our NATO allies, our allies in the region and also just global security and protecting the American homeland,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

But the official, speaking after the calls with allies, suggested that Trump would not push a withdrawal faster than conditions on the ground allow.

U.S. and Afghan officials are warning of troubling levels of violence by Taliban insurgents and persistent Taliban links to al Qaeda.

It was those ties that triggered U.S. military intervention in 2001 following the 9/11 attacks, which al Qaeda carried out. Thousands of American and allied troops have died in fighting in Afghanistan since then.

Some U.S. military officials, citing U.S. counter-terrorism priorities in Afghanistan, have privately urged Trump against going to zero at this point and want to keep U.S. troop levels at around 4,500 for now.

“The president has acted appropriately in this, has never said: ‘Hey, we’re going to zero. Let’s go tomorrow.’ It has always been a conditions-based effort and that effort continues,” the senior U.S. defense official said, without explicitly detailing future drawdown plans.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

‘SEE FIGHT TO THE FINISH’

Over the past four years, predicting Trump’s policy pronouncements has not always been easy.

On Oct. 7, Trump said on Twitter here “We should have the small remaining number of our BRAVE Men and Women serving in Afghanistan home by Christmas!”

But U.S. officials say he has yet to issue orders to carry that withdrawal out. On Monday the first U.S. official said the Pentagon had told commanders to start planning for the more moderate reduction to 2,500 troops.

A total withdrawal now would be difficult for the U.S. military to execute, especially given the reliance of NATO allies on the United States for logistical support, they add.

The NATO official, who asked not to be named, said the belief was the United States could soon announce a drawdown to 2,500 to 3,000 troops by Christmas.

National security adviser Robert O’Brien already raised such a possibility, saying last month the United States would go down to 2,500 by early 2021, in comments overshadowed by Trump’s Christmas timeline.

A NATO diplomat said Miller, in his introductory call with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, did not suggest a complete withdrawal but instead a reduction of troops.

The senior U.S. defense official said U.S. withdrawals from Afghanistan had been carried out in an “educated way so as not to revisit the Iraq withdrawal that failed in 2011.”

Then-President Barack Obama withdrew troops against military advice, only to return them to Iraq three years later.

Regardless of what Trump might do, Taliban militants, fighting against the U.S.-backed government in Kabul, have called on the United States to stick to a February agreement with the Trump administration to withdraw U.S. troops by May, subject to certain security guarantees.

Violence has been rising throughout Afghanistan, with the Taliban attacking provincial capitals, in some case prompting U.S. airstrikes.

In Kabul, there is growing fear of a precipitous withdrawal that could further embolden the Taliban and undercut already sputtering peace talks, sources say. Miller, in a message to the U.S. armed forces chrome-extension://oemmndcbldboiebfnladdacbdfmadadm/here released over the weekend, echoed Trump’s desire to end America’s overseas engagements by saying “it’s time to come home.” But he did not offer a timetable and stressed the need to finish the fight against al Qaeda.

The Taliban harbored al Qaeda’s leaders and the U.S. special envoy for Afghanistan said the Taliban had not fulfilled their February accord commitment to break ties with al Qaeda.

“We are on the verge of defeating al Qaeda and its associates, but we must avoid our past strategic error of failing to see the fight through to the finish,” wrote Miller, a former Green Beret and counter-terrorism official.

Source: https://in.reuters.com/article/usa-afghanistan-withdrawal/trump-poised-to-settle-for-partial-afghan-withdrawal-despite-pentagon-shakeup-sources-idINKBN27W2BR

The post Trump poised to settle for partial Afghan withdrawal, despite Pentagon shakeup – sources first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

Recently, Chinese President Xi Jinping has called on Chinese troops to “put all (their) minds and energy on preparing for war” on October 13, CNN reported quoting Xinhua. The remarks were made when he was inspecting the Marine Corps of PLA in Chaozhou City, added CNN. Xi ordered the troops to “maintain a state of high alert” and called on them to be “absolutely loyal, absolutely pure, and absolutely reliable”.

India and the US have been long-standing allies, however, China’s confrontation with several countries including Japan, the US, and Australia has raised alarm against China’s expansionist strategy.

During the recent Quad meeting, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called China an aggressor in the “South [China Sea], in the East China Sea, the Mekong, the Himalayas, the Taiwan Straits.”

In an interview, Pompeo said that the Quad countries are developing policies to present a resistance to the threats that China posed to each of the four nations.

“They’ve all seen it, whether it’s the Indians, who are actually having a physical confrontation with the Chinese up in the Himalayas in the northeastern part of India, the Chinese have now begun to amass huge forces against India in the north,” he said. 

“(India) absolutely need the United States to be their ally and partner in this fight,” he added. He also noted that Beijing has stationed “60,000 soldiers against the Indians in the north,” in an interview with Fox News.

The post India-China War: Why India ‘Outrightly Rejects’ US Help Even When Beijing Has Asked Its Army To Be Ready For War? first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

U.S. President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shake hands after delivering press statements before an official dinner in Jerusalem on May 22, 2017. Credit: MANDEL NGAN/AFP

Israel and the United Arab Emirates reached a historic peace deal on Thursday that will lead to a full normalization of diplomatic relations between the two Middle Eastern nations in an agreement that U.S. President Donald Trump helped broker.

Under the agreement, Israel has agreed to suspend applying sovereignty to areas of the West Bank that it has been discussing annexing, a joint statement by all three parties to the agreement said.

Trump, in a tweet, called the agreement a “HUGE breakthrough,” describing it as a “historic peace agreement between our two GREAT friends.”

Benjamin Netanyahu@netanyahu

Donald J. Trump@realDonaldTrump

HUGE breakthrough today! Historic Peace Agreement between our two GREAT friends, Israel and the United Arab Emirates!

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The joint statement said the three leaders had “agreed to the full normalization of relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates.”

“This historic diplomatic breakthrough will advance peace in the Middle East region and is a testament to the bold diplomacy and vision of the three leaders and the courage of the United Arab Emirates and Israel to chart a new path that will unlock the great potential in the region,” the statement said.

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Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump

Joint Statement of the United States, the State of Israel, and the United Arab Emirates

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The peace deal was the product of lengthy discussions between Israel, the UAE, and the United States that accelerated recently, White House officials said.

The agreement was sealed in a phone call on Thursday between Trump, Netanyahu, and Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed, crown prince of Abu Dhabi.

• UAE Says ‘Israeli Annexation Talk Must Stop,’ Warns of ‘Serious Setback for Peace’
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The officials described the agreement, to be known as the Abraham Accords, as the first of its kind since Israel and Jordan signed a peace treaty in 1994. It also gives Trump a foreign policy success as he seeks re-election on November 3.

Annexation on hold

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a televised speech Thursday night that “Today marks a new era in Israel’s relations with the Arab world” and that the two countries agreed on “a full, formal peace.”

“For years, Israel has been portrayed as an enemy…now more countries will join us in this circle of peace,” the prime minister said.

He added that annexation is “still on the table,” and that it is a promise Netanyahu said he is “committed to.”

Benjamin Netanyahu speaks at a press briefing in Jerusalem, August 13, 2020. Credit: Jonathan Zindel/Pool via Flash 90

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“Extending sovereignty will be done only alongside the United States,” Netanyahu said. “Without coordination, in the best case, will do nothing, and in the worst case, will harm relations between us. The United States asked that Israel temporarily postpone annexation.”

The joint statement by the three leaders said that as “a result of this diplomatic breakthrough and at the request of President Trump with the support of the United Arab Emirates, Israel will suspend declaring sovereignty” over areas of the West Bank that were envisioned in the U.S. Middle East plan unveiled by Trump in January.

“Israel for the foreseeable future will be focused on building this relationship and pursuing all the advantages that can come from having this new relationship with this country, and we also breaks the ice for doing more normalizations and peace agreements with other regional players as well,” one White House official told Reuters.

A senior political source told Haaretz that annexation is still on the agenda and that Israel is committed to it. “The Trump administration asked that we temporarily postpone declaring [sovereignty over parts of the West Bank] in order to achieve the beginning of this historic peace agreement with the Emirates.”

A senior Likud official praised the agreement, saying: “The Israeli and international left always said that it is impossible to bring peace with Arab nations without peace with the Palestinian people. That there is no other way except from withdrawing from the ’67 borders, clearing out the settlements, dividing Jerusalem, and establishing a Palestinian state. This is the first time in History that Prime Minister Netanyahu broke the paradigm of ‘land for peace’ and brought ‘peace in exchange for peace.'”

Sources involved said that Netanyahu discussed the agreement with Alternate Prime Minister Benny Gantz and Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi only after the agreement was formally announced by Washington. Both Gantz and Ashkenazi deny that they were previously unaware of the agreement.

Meanwhile, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said he “rejects and denounces the surprising announcement by Israel, the United States, and the UAE,” and called it a “betrayal of Jerusalem, Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Palestinian cause.” A senior adviser to Abbas read the statement from outside the PA president’s Ramallah headquarters.

PLO Executive Committee member Dr. Hanan Ashrawi condemned the agreement and its terms on Twitter. “Israel got rewarded for not declaring openly what it’s been doing to Palestine illegally and persistently since the beginning of the occupation,” she wrote, referring to the annexation agreement. “The UAE has come out in the open on its secret dealings/normalization with Israel. Please don’t do us a favor. We are nobody’s fig leaf!”

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Hanan Ashrawi@DrHananAshrawi

Israel got rewarded for not declaring openly what it’s been doing to Palestine illegally & persistently since the beginning of the occupation. The UAE has come out in the open on its secret dealings/normalization with Israel. Please don’t do us a favor. We are nobody’s fig leaf!

Sarah Leah Whitson@sarahleah1

BREAKING: #UAE and #Israel “normalize” relations. The trade? Israel won’t formally annex and exercise sovereignty over the land it has for all intents and purposes already annexed and exercises sovereignty over… ZERO for the rights of Palestinians

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‘A win for diplomacy’

UAE Ambassador to the United States Yousef Al Otaiba released a statement calling the agreement “a win for diplomacy and for the region” and “a significant advance in Arab-Israeli relations that lowers tensions and creates new energy for positive change.”

He added that the move “immediately stops annexation and the potential for violent escalation. It maintains the viability of a two-state solution as endorsed by the Arab League and international community. It creates new dynamics and possibilities in the peace process.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on a phone call with Washington and Dubai, August 13, 2020.Credit: Kobi Gideon / GPO

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MohamedBinZayed@MohamedBinZayed

During a call with President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu, an agreement was reached to stop further Israeli annexation of Palestinian territories. The UAE and Israel also agreed to cooperate and setting a roadmap towards establishing a bilateral relationship.

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Al Otaiba’s statement concludes with a reassurance that “The UAE will remain a strong supporter of the Palestinian people – for their dignity, their rights, and their own sovereign state.  They must benefit from normalization.  We will forcefully advocate for these ends, now directly and bolstered with stronger incentives, policy options, and diplomatic tools.”

Next steps

White House officials said Trump senior adviser Jared Kushner, U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman, and Middle East envoy Avi Berkowitz were deeply involved in negotiating the deal, as well as Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and White House national security adviser Robert O’Brien.

Pompeo congratulated Israel and the UAE in both Arabic and Hebrew in a tweet, calling the agreement “a significant step forward for peace in the Middle East.”

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Secretary Pompeo@SecPompeo

US government account

Today is an historic day. After vigorous diplomatic outreach by President @realDonaldTrump, Israeli Prime Minister @netanyahu and Emirati Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Zayed have signed an agreement to fully normalize relations between their two great nations.

Secretary Pompeo@SecPompeo

US government account

The United States congratulates Israel and the Emirates for this remarkable achievement, which is a significant step forward for peace in the Middle East. Blessed are the peacemakers. Mabruk and Mazal Tov.

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In a statement, the U.S. secretary of state called the agreement “a remarkable achievement for two of the world’s most forward-leaning, technologically advanced states, and reflects their shared regional vision of an economically integrated region. It also illustrates their commitment to confronting common threats, as small – but strong – nations.

The United States hopes that this brave step will be the first in a series of agreements that end 72 years of hostilities in the region. Although the peace treaties between Israel and Egypt and Jordan have not yet fulfilled their full potential, since the 1978 Camp David Accords and the 1994 Wadi Arava Agreement, we have witnessed significant economic development in Egypt and Jordan, an unmistakable dividend of peace.”

Delegations from Israel and the United Arab Emirates will meet in the coming weeks to sign bilateral agreements regarding investment, tourism, direct flights, security, telecommunications, and other issues, the statement said.

The two countries are expected soon to exchange ambassadors and embassies.

The agreement envisions giving Muslims greater access to the Al-Aqsa Mosque in the Old City of Jerusalem by allowing them to fly from Abu Dhabi to Tel Aviv, White House officials said.

The joint statement said the United Arab Emirates and Israel will immediately expand and accelerate cooperation regarding the treatment of and the development of a vaccine for the novel coronavirus amid the pandemic.

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The Associated Press contributed to this report

Source: https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/with-trump-s-help-israel-and-the-uae-reach-historic-deal-to-normalize-relations-1.9070687

The post Israel Suspends West Bank Annexation in Deal to Normalize Relations With the UAE first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

The removal order would reduce the U.S. troop presence in Germany by 9,500 from the 34,500 service members who are permanently assigned there. It would also cap at 25,000 the number of American troops in Germany at any one time. Under current practice, overall troop levels can rise to as high as 52,000 as units rotate in and out or take part in training exercises.

GERMANY’S MERKEL ACCUSES RUSSIA OF HACKING HER EMAIL ACCOUNT

The Trump administration ordered the change in a memorandum signed recently by White House national security adviser Robert O’Brien, the officials said Friday.

U.S. President Donald Trump, left, is welcomed by German Chancellor Angela Merkel on the first day of the G-20 summit in Hamburg, northern Germany, Friday, July 7, 2017. (Associated Press)

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The decision drew criticism from some former senior defense officials and lawmakers concerned that it would further weaken a key alliance and empower U.S. adversaries. Moscow is likely to welcome the open display of differences between two key North Atlantic Treaty Organization allies, U.S. experts said, though Russia didn’t comment publicly on the development.

One senior U.S. official said that the administration has been discussing the move since September and that it isn’t linked to German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s decision not to attend a G-7 meeting Mr. Trump was to host in Washington at the end of June.

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But the official acknowledged that it reflected the Trump administration’s long frustration with German policy, especially the nation’s level of military spending and its insistence on completing the controversial Nord Stream 2 pipeline that will channel Russian gas directly to Germany under the Baltic Sea.

Source: https://www.foxnews.com/us/trump-directs-pentagon-to-pull-9500-us-troops-from-germany-by-september

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