New Defense Chief signals potential troop withdrawal: ‘All wars must end’

President TrumpDonald John Trump Trump: New York Not To Receive COVID-19 Vaccine Immediately Biden Cites Yellen As Possible Treasury Secretary: Trump Report Puts Giuliani In Charge Of Election Prosecutions: MORE reportNew Defense Chief Christopher Miller reported a potential reduction in US troops coming to the Middle East in a sent memo to agency staff on Friday, saying, “All wars must end.”

Miller, who succeeded as Acting Defense Secretary after Trump sacked Pentagon head Mark EsperMark EsperHaspel Not Present At Latest Trump Intelligence Briefing: Overnight Defense Reports: Another Defense Official Resigns | Pentagon chief says army “remains strong” despite purge | Top candidate for Biden DOD secretary would be historic pick Ex-CIA Director Brennan: Trump ‘settles accounts’ with Pentagon changes MORE via this week’s tweet, wrote that while the current conflicts are not over, “we are not a people of perpetual war.”

“As we prepare for the future, we remain committed to ending the war that Al-Qaida brought to our shores in 2001. This war is not over,” Miller said, referring to the war in Afghanistan.

“We are on the verge of defeating Al-Qaida and its associates, but we must avoid our past strategic mistake of not carrying the fight to the end. Indeed, this fight has been long, our sacrifices have been enormous and many are tired of the war – I am one of them ”, he continued.

The acting Pentagon chief then wrote that “this is the critical phase in which we shift our efforts from a leadership role to a supporting role.”

“We are not a people of perpetual war – this is the antithesis of everything we stand for and for which our ancestors fought,” Miller continued. “All wars must end.”

“Ending wars requires compromises and partnerships. We took up the challenge; we gave everything. Now, it’s time to go home.

Speculation has grown that the Trump administration may push for a swift withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan after the president sacked Esper this week, prompting a broader Defense Department leadership reshuffle.

Trump campaigned for the White House in 2016 on a promise to end “endless wars” and bring US troops back from foreign conflicts, but efforts to reduce the US presence in the 19-year war in Afghanistan have failed. proved difficult.

The administration signed a conditional peace deal with the Taliban earlier this year that demanded a full US withdrawal by May if the Taliban honored its commitments to deny al Qaeda asylum, although Trump was reportedly frustrated with the pace of withdrawal.

The president said on Twitter last month that forces in Afghanistan are expected to return to the United States before Christmas.

Shortly after his appointment this week as Acting Defense Secretary, Miller hiring The retired army colonel. Douglas macgregor to serve as its primary advisor.

The addition of Macgregor, which repeatedly over the past year has advocated for the United States to withdraw its forces from conflicts in the Middle East, signaled to some of a Trump effort to withdraw American troops from the region in the last few weeks of his presidency.

Others viewed personnel changes as retaliation, with former CIA director and Trump voice critic John brennanJohn Owen Brennan Ex-CIA Director Brennan: Trump’s ‘settling of scores’ with Pentagon changes 50 former intelligence officials warn NY Post story looks like Russian disinformation No betrayal, no crime – but certainly a flagrant abuse of power arguing Friday that Trump was a “settling of scores” with recent personnel changes at the Pentagon.

“He wants people to be personally loyal to him,” Brennan said in an interview on CNN. “So therefore, the dismissal of Mark Esper and the beheading of civilian leaders in the Pentagon, I clearly think, is a settling of scores on Mr. Trump’s part.”

Since Esper’s sacking, several senior Pentagon officials also reported their departures of their roles: the highest politician in the Pentagon James Anderson, the agency’s top intelligence official, Joseph Kernan, Esper’s chief of staff, Jen Stewart, and deputy chief of staff, Alexis Ross.

“It is helpful to behead senior civilian leaders in the Pentagon for aggressive use of the military to bolster the president’s claims that he won these elections,” said a former defense official who has remained close current senior Pentagon leaders. told McClatchy this week.

“This is probably the most worrying and the most extreme reason why they could make these decisions,” the official said of the withdrawal and rapid replacement of Pentagon officials.

While all the mainstream media predicted the president-elect Joe bidenJoe BidenTrump: New York Won’t Immediately Receive COVID-19 Vaccine Biden Seeing Yellen As Possible Treasury Secretary: Report Obama Hits Trump For Refusing To Concede Says There Is ‘No Legal Basis’ ‘for the PLUS challenges As the winner of the 2020 election last week, Trump has since refused to give in, reiterating instead that there were cases of voter fraud in major battlefield states as part of an attempt by the Democrats to steal the election.

These claims have since been challenged by election experts, local election officials and the courts.

Miller said on Friday that the military “remains strong” despite the leadership reshuffle.

“I want to assure the American public and our allies and partners that the Defense Department remains strong and continues its vital work of protecting our homeland, our people and our interests in the world,” Miller told the Pentagon before a meeting with his Lithuanian counterpart.