U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper landed in Afghanistan on Sunday in a bid to get "a peace agreement and at some point, a political agreement" with the Taliban after President Trump abruptly broke off negotiations last month.
Esper told reporters that the number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan could be reduced to around 8-thousand-600 from the current 14-thousand, if needed.
One U.S. official said that, considering Trump's sudden withdrawal of troops from northern Syria last week, he could be serious about removing U.S. troops from Afghanistan as well.