Daily US Times: Senior Republican leaders have voiced their alarm at the US plans to withdraw some of its troops in Afghanistan and Iraq.
The US Department of Defense confirmed that the US is to cut its number of troops in Afghanistan and Iraq by 2,500.
President Trump has long called for US troops to come home and has criticised US interventions abroad.
But Mitch McConnell, a top Republican and Senate Majority Leader – usually a staunch defender of Mr Trump – called the plan “a mistake”.
Mr McConnell also warned Mr Trump against taking “any earthshaking changes in regards to defence and foreign policy” before leaving the Oval Office.
Mr Trump is yet to concede the election to Democrat Joe Biden, and the cuts are scheduled to take place five days before Mr Biden takes office on 20 January next year.
Joe Biden has said he is “rightly weary of our longest war” in Afghanistan but also said there was a need to “end the war responsibly, in a manner that ensures we both guard against threats to our homeland and never have to go back.”
In Iraq, the number of US forces will be cut by 500 to 2,500, while the number of service personnel in Afghanistan will fall from 4,500 to about 2,500.
The move reflected Mr Trump’s policy “to bring the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq to a successful and responsible conclusion and to bring our brave service members home,” acting US Defense Secretary Chris Miller said.
Shortly after the announcement, several rockets were fired into the Green Zone in Iraq’s capital Baghdad and landed near the US embassy. It is the first such attack since Iraqi militias linked to Iran agreed to stop targeting the US embassy compound last month.
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