---
title: "Afghanistan drawdown? Not so fast, says Covid-19"
description: "While U.S. officials maintain that the troop drawdown will continue as planned, some worry that the increased concerns over coronavirus spreading in Afghanistan could slow things down."
date: "2020-03-18"
modified: "2020-03-18"
authors:
  - name: "Haley Britzky"
    job_title: "Former Army Reporter"
    link: "https://taskandpurpose.com/authors/haley-britzky/"
url: "https://taskandpurpose.com/news/coronavirus-afghanistan-withd/"
categories:
  - "Afghanistan"
  - "Around the World"
  - "News"
tags:
  - "central command"
  - "Covid-19"
---

# Afghanistan drawdown? Not so fast, says Covid-19

![](<https://taskandpurpose.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/1000w_q95-4.jpg>)

On the list of events being affected by the global Covid-19 pandemic, you can now add the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.

- Gen. Austin Miller, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, is “preventing some troops from leaving” the country for the next month in an effort to protect them from the virus, [the New York Times reports](<https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/18/world/asia/coronavirus-withdrawal-afghanistan.html>).
- The U.S. [started to draw down troops](<https://taskandpurpose.com/news/afghanistan-withdrawal-begins/>) to 8,600 earlier this month following the signing of the [Afghanistan peace deal](<https://www.state.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Agreement-For-Bringing-Peace-to-Afghanistan-02.29.20.pdf>).
- Coalition forces, who were also expecting to start reducing troop numbers, have "put aside" those discussions, in part due to the new coronavirus.
- Per the Times, American officials “insist their Afghanistan drawdown will continue as planned,” but European diplomats “are not so sure.”
- There are [22 confirmed cases](<https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/afghanistan-coronavirus-crisis/2020/03/18/29b0ac8c-6875-11ea-b199-3a9799c54512_story.html>) of coronavirus in Afghanistan so far, and “thousands of people from Iran, where the virus has spread and infected thousands, enter Afghanistan’s porous western reaches daily.”
- On Wednesday, Col. Sonny Leggett, U.S. military spokesman in Afghanistan, [tweeted](<https://twitter.com/USFOR_A/status/1240308147530719233>) that protecting the force "is our top priority," and that they are continuing "to execute the ordered drawdown to 8600."

## Author
Haley Britzky was the Task & Purpose Army reporter from 2019 to 2022. She previously worked at Axios covering breaking news. She reports on important developments within the service, from new uniforms to new policies; the realities of military life facing soldiers and their families; and broader cultural issues that expand outside of the Army, touching each of the military services.Â

### Author social links  
[LinkedIn](<https://www.linkedin.com/in/haley-britzky-b09022a0/>)  
[Twitter](<https://twitter.com/halbritz>)