Pentagon reducing troop levels to 2,500 each in Afghanistan, Iraq on Trump's orders

National security adviser Robert O'Brien talks to reporters outside the West Wing of the White House in Washington, D.C. on Nov. 17, 2020. (Yuri Gripas/Abaca Press/TNS)

WASHINGTON — The Pentagon is cutting force levels to 2,500 troops in both Iraq and Afghanistan, a decision long resisted by the military's senior leaders, but enacted by acting Defense Secretary Chris Miller after a recent shake-up at the top.

Miller took over as the new defense secretary last week after President Donald Trump fired his predecessor Mark Esper by tweet.