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That's steep. The U.S. is considering dropping the number of troops in Afghanistan below 10,000, which is the minimum needed to train Afghan forces, to possibly even less than 5,000. Officials say the small force is based on a belief by the White House that the recent elections went well and the local security forces are prepared to handle the Taliban factions. There are around 33,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan, and the debate over their withdrawal this year has been lively in Washington.