WASHINGTON, 03 December 2020, (TON): Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the Brookings Institution’s Michael O’Hanlon on Wednesday morning that “We believe that now after 20 years, two decades of consistent effort there, we’ve achieved a modicum of success.”

“We went to Afghanistan to ensure that Afghanistan never again became a platform for terrorists to strike the United States,” he said.

However, he declined to provide many details about the US withdrawal plans for Afghanistan, citing security concerns.

Donald Trump ordered the Pentagon to accelerate a drawdown of U.S. troops in Afghanistan, the moves will leave about 2,500 troops in Afghanistan. Trump works to deliver on his long-time pledge to exit from “endless wars” before he leaves office in January.

The US media recently reported that American troops will shut down some bases that it has maintained across the country, reducing its footprint to “a couple of larger bases with several satellite bases that provide the capability to continue our train, advise and assist mission and our counterterrorism mission,” Milley said.

“What comes after that will be up to a new administration, we’ll find that out on the 20th of January and beyond.” Milley added.

The US longest ever war in Afghanistan is seen as more collateral damage than a reasonable success,  which is sending wavers to Washington as is realized by Miller and others that the war must stop. The drawdown call followed by a breakthrough in intra-Afghan peace talks is surely a generative of US-Taliban Peace Agreement late in February.