Top US general refuses to ‘speculate’ about troops withdrawal

Speaking to NPR, he would not be drawn on whether this meant that all troops would leave by late December but said: “We have a plan, a series of responsible drawdown options that has been briefed to the president. 
“I’m not going to go into specific numbers for the future. I think that would [not] be appropriate for me as the chairman to talk specific numbers in future operations, we typically don’t do that. But we have a responsible plan to end the war with US interests clearly in mind,” he said. 
Miley said however Washington was on track to draw down to 4,500 troops in the near future adding that further drawdowns will be determined by Trump. 
 He said the US-Taliban agreement, signed in February in Doha, and the drawdown plans are conditions-based, and that he expects further discussions to assess whether conditions are being met will be held in future. 
“The key here is that we’re trying to end a war responsibly, deliberately, and to do it on terms that guarantee the safety of the US vital national security interests that are at stake in Afghanistan.”
Unbundling the terms “conditions-based” in relation to a full withdrawal as per the Doha agreement, he said the US was monitoring “a variety of other conditions” in addition the peace talks being held, the Taliban not attacking US forces, the group not carrying out large attacks on major urban areas, and severing ties with al-Qaeda. 
“So we’re monitoring all of those conditions closely. And we’re, we the military, are giving our best military advice on those conditions so that the president can make an informed, deliberate, responsible decision.”
On the high level of violence, currently gripping the country, he said “if you start measuring the violence from, call it four or five months ago, has there been a significant reduction in violence? Answer: not significant. If you measure it from two to three years ago or five years ago, there has been a significant reduction in violence.”
“So, you have to look at this stuff analytically and we do. And you have to put it through a high degree of rigor, because you can get two people looking at the same set of phenomena and they will come up with two different conclusions. 
“So what I want to make sure is that we’re going through a high degree of rigor and providing good analysis for the president to make a responsible, deliberate decision,” he said.
In February, at the time of the signing of the Doha agreement, there were about 13,000 American troops in the country. A systematic drawdown has since been carried out with troop levels expected to reach about 4,500 by next month. 
However, last week the US national security adviser, Robert O’Brien, said he expected a big reduction of US troops in Afghanistan by early next year. Just hours later, Trump said on twitter that all troops should be home by Christmas. 
Asked what would happen if the US pulled out all troops by Christmas, he said “I don’t think, frankly, it would be appropriate [to answer the question],” adding that he did not want to speculate in an open forum on what he might advise Trump on what those risks are. 
“I default back to we have a plan. It’s a conditions-based plan, and right now, the only number that’s publicly out there that I am aware of in terms of any sort of official number is 4,500 in the not-too-distant future by November. And that’s the plan. 
“And we’re continuing to monitor those conditions. And as further decisions that the president makes based on those conditions, then we’ll execute those decisions. But right now, for me to go beyond that, for me to go beyond the publicly disclosed number of 4,500 would not be, I don’t think it’d be a wise thing for me to do,” he said.
About O’Brien saying that the US will cut the number of troops in Afghanistan to 2,500 by early next year, Milley said anyone “can speculate as they see fit. I’m not going to engage in speculation. I’m going to engage in the rigorous analysis of the situation based on the conditions and the plans that I am aware of and my conversations with the president. And then when we get to the point where we have further discussions and further decisions, those will be appropriately made public.”