Donald Trump says American troops should be home from Afghanistan by Christmas

A US military Chinook helicopter in Wardak province

Credit: THOMAS WATKINS/AFP via Getty Images)

Donald Trump has said America’s remaining troops in Afghanistan should be home by Christmas, in what would be a dramatic speeding up of the US military withdrawal from its longest war.

The president’s comment was warmly greeted by leaders of the Taliban insurgency, but it contradicted a senior US official who had only hours earlier laid out a slower return of forces.

In the confusion, it was not clear if policy had changed or the US president was voicing his hopes to supporters. US Forces in Kabul declined to comment.

Mr Trump has made winding down America’s “endless wars” a cornerstone of his re-election campaign and had already said numbers would fall to around 4,500 before polling in less than a month’s time.

“We should have the small remaining number of our BRAVE men and women serving in Afghanistan home by Christmas!" he said on Twitter.

Washington’s landmark withdrawal deal reached with the Taliban in February agreed that troops would leave by May 2021 if the militants kept assurances that Afghan soil would not be a haven for terrorists.

Just hours before Mr Trump’s tweet, his national security adviser had outlined a withdrawal in line with that target. Robert O’Brien said the United States had fewer than 5,000 troops in Afghanistan currently and would go down to 2,500 by early next year.

"Ultimately, the Afghans themselves are going to have to work out an accord, a peace agreement. … It’s going to be slow progress, it’s going to be hard progress, but we think it’s a necessary step – we think Americans need to come home," Mr O’Brien said.

Afghan commanders said they would fight on, with or without American troops, but any speeding up of the withdrawal is likely to cause dismay in Kabul. Afghan troops draw heavily on US support and the troop withdrawal is seen as undercutting Kabul’s hand as it enters talks with the militants on a political settlement.

Casualties among Afghan forces and civilians remain high despite the prospect of talks.

Mohammad Naeem, a spokesman for the militants who ruled Afghanistan during the 1990s said Mr Trump’s announcement was "a positive step towards the implementation of (the) Doha agreement."