U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper said on Monday that any future troop drawdowns in
Afghanistan were "not necessarily" linked to a deal with
Taliban insurgents, suggesting some lowering of force levels may happen irrespective of the ongoing peace push.
The remarks by Esper in an interview with Reuters came on the heels of a
Thanksgiving trip last week to Afghanistan by President
Donald Trump, who spoke of potential troop reductions and said he believed the Taliban insurgency would agree to a ceasefire in the 18-year-old war.