Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

News

Graphic Truth: Trump Keeps His Promise

Graphic Truth: Trump Keeps His Promise
Make us preferred on Google

As a presidential candidate, one of Donald Trump's signature pledges was to bring American troops home from the Middle East and South Asia. Despite an uptick in deployments to Afghanistan early in his term, the total number of US personnel in the region has dropped by 30 percent since he took office.


If he follows through on his pledge to withdraw all US troops in Syria and half of those in Afghanistan, those moves alone would entail a further 20 percentage point decline in troop levels since September 2016. Here's a country-by-country breakdown of the US military presence in the region.

More For You

The lasting impact of 9/11 on US leadership
- YouTube
In this ‘ask ian,’ Ian Bremmer reflects on the 25th anniversary of 9/11, examining the long-term consequences of America's response to the attacks. [...]
A man is seen holding up a placard against Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez as he takes part in a protest in solidarity with ceuta people, coinciding with Ceuta city day. The mass crossing of migrants into the city of Ceuta from Morocco has prompted several Spanish cities to call rallies and demonstrations in support of Ceuta and national sovereignty, as well as against the Spanish government's management.

A man is seen holding up a placard against Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez as he takes part in a protest in solidarity with ceuta people, coinciding with Ceuta city day, on Sept 2, 2026.

Jesus Merida / SOPA Images via Reuters Connect
Sánchez releases classified documents on Ceuta crisisSpanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s government on Wednesday declassified documents showing that Morocco had knowledge of plans for a mass migrant crossing into the Spanish exclave of Ceuta days before it occurred. The disclosure may be an attempt to deflect some of the backlash Sánchez has [...]
Terrorism fades as Americans’ top concern
GZERO Media/Eileen Zhang/Paige Parsacala
The month after 9/11, terrorism was the most significant concern for Americans. In polling conducted by Gallup the following month – and just days after the invasion of Afghanistan –46% of Americans said terrorism was their top concern. At the same time, trust in government hit a three-decade high in 2001, buoyed by President George W. Bush’s [...]
How China, BRICS, and a new balance of power emerged from 9/11’s shadow
When the Pentagon and Twin Towers were struck on September 11, 2001, I was a US diplomat in Taiwan, focused on the globalization push coming from China’s impending accession to the WTO just three months later. My world changed dramatically that day, and 9/11 arguably set the world on a very different course that was felt by all of us, even if we [...]