At 8pm ET, President Obama is scheduled to address the nation on the war in Afghanistan. According to The New York Times, he’s expected to outline plans to bring roughly 30,000 American troops home by next summer.
These drastic reductions — not recommended by Obama’s top military commanders — signal the mounting political and economic pressure to drawdown immediately.
ThinkProgress made a great chart illustrating troop levels throughout the dragged out war effort. Surprisingly, even with these expected reductions, there are still more troops on the ground now than when Bush was in office.
Lawrence and Rachel Maddow will bring you live coverage of Obama’s speech tonight. Tune in at 8pm ET on msnbc.
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Sarah Muller