Afghanistan President offers to reduce cost of maintaining US troops in country

Baku. 31 January. REPORT.AZ/ President Ashraf Ghani of Afghanistan sent a letter on Tuesday to President Trump offering him reduced costs for keeping United States troops in the country, Report informs citing a publication in The New York Times.

The publication notes that the letter confirmed by three officials and described by one who had seen its contents, is among the strongest signs yet that Mr. Ghani is worried about the consequences of an abrupt American withdrawal from an intractable war that has lasted nearly two decades.

The official said the language of Mr. Ghani’s letter was broad — asking for teams from both sides to discuss details of where costs could be reduced, and how the troop levels could be brought down from the current 14,000 to a “more efficient level.”

The official said the possibilities they had envisioned could save as much as $2 billion a year for the United States, drawing from areas such as maintenance contracts, and reduce the level of American troops to as low a 3,000.

The publication indicated that it is unclear whether the letter has already been delivered to Trump.

Earlier, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said that Kabul would try to reduce the presence of foreign troops in Afghanistan to zero.