Secretary of Defense Mark Esper holds an end of year press conference at the Pentagon on December 20, 2019 in Arlington, Virginia.U.S.
Defense Secretary Mark Esper told CNBC he was "reluctant" to call the truce agreement Washington reached with the Taliban on Friday a victory or a loss.
Asked whether it was a triumph for the U.S., Esper said: "I'm reluctant to call things victories or losses, but I think it's the way forward. It enables us to reduce our footprint, our presence in Afghanistan going forward. I think it's most important for the Afghan people ... they deserve better than what they've had."
This would see the U.S. withdraw some of its military presence in Afghanistan, reducing troops down to around 8,600, Esper said. There are around 13,000 U.S. troops reportedly in Afghanistan currently. The peace deal would also call for a nationwide cease-fire and a pledge from the Taliban to not host terrorist groups like Al Qaeda.When asked why China was the Pentagon's top concern, Esper said that looking at the U.S.
The Defense Secretary said the U.S. needed to move as "quickly as we can" to develop this technology, otherwise "China's domination of this market will continue to grow."
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