this is d. w. news coming to you live from u.s., president, orders thousands of troops to leave afghanistan and iraq. the move helps fulfill his campaign promise to bring american troops home from conflicts overseas. but some military officials and nato allies are sounding the alarm. the decision also coming up you're looking at exclusive d.w. news footage of a terror strike in ethiopia's province. the rebellious region has ignored government. him to surrender. ethiopia's defense minister tells us he will launch

a final military offensive on within a week. good to have you with us. the united states says it sharply reducing its troop numbers in afghanistan and iraq. by mid january, the deployment will be cut to 2 and a half 1000 soldiers in each country. president all trump made the campaign promise to end what he called for ever wars, but the move has triggered opposition from both leading republicans and nato allies . the sun could be setting on the us presence in afghanistan. american soldiers have been fighting here since 2001, helping stabilize the country after overthrowing taliban rule, but suffering over 2000 deaths over time. troop numbers have winked. now,

outgoing president, donald trump will further reduce the number of soldiers here and in iraq. in light of these tremendous sacrifices and with great humility and gratitude to those who came before us, i am formally announcing that we will implement president trumps orders to continue our repositioning of forces from those 2 countries by january 15th, 2021. our forces, their size in afghanistan will be 2500 troops,, or 4 sides in iraq will also be 2500. as u.s., troop numbers dwindled extremist gained in strength. this attack on a kabul university last week killed 22 people. it was claimed by the so-called islamic state, which has emerged as a rival to the taliban. the taliban themselves have stepped up their attacks on

security forces and civilians violating an agreement that foresaw the withdrawal of all u.s. soldiers by may next year. criticism of the latest drawdown even came from within the president's own party. others are extremely important here in the next couple of months. not to have any earth shaking changes with regard to defense and foreign policy. think of perception as drawdown and neither afghanistan or iraq would be a mistake in iraq. the u.s. military presence was greatly reduced after the defeat of isis in 2017. this has increased the sway of neighboring iran and militia groups aligned with as u.s. soldiers head home. they could risk leaving the field to america's adversaries.

let's bring in our correspondent in brussels, teri schultz, terry, i understand the head of nato has also expressed concern about trump, administration's troop withdrawal plans in iraq and afghanistan. tell us more. that's right, terry. secretary general stoltenberg was speaking before this announcement that the decision had been made and that implementation of these plans would begin. but this is the closest you come with a norwegian secretary general in charge of 30 nations to being criticism of one allies, decision secretary general's tolson. burke said look, no one wants to be in afghanistan or iraq longer than it is necessary. but we have to do it when the time is right. and for all reasons for all other countries who are there with the united states as well. he said that the time has to be right or we risk losing everything we've done there in the last 20 years. the country could again become a haven for terrorists, which is exactly the reason why the u.s. went in after the 911 attacks. and so yes,

secretary general stoltenberg is very concerned that this is precipitous, that the conditions on the ground on which the decisions for withdrawal were supposed to be based have not been met by any means of measuring this. they have not been met based on the fact that the taliban continues to stage attacks. so everyone is very concerned here in brussels. the question is, of course, terry, why is trump doing this now? can you tell us? of course, i mean, i probably can't tell you exactly what's going on in the head of the u.s. president, but he's been warning all parties concerned that he was going to do this. he has tweeted, specifically that he wants the troops home by christmas. so it wasn't completely a surprise that he came out and said he was doing this. but i believe that once again, as has happened so often before with decisions coming out of this white house, they may have been surprised by the timing secretary general stolzenberg talks with,

with the new acting defense secretary, both on friday and then he says he received a call on monday, but it's not clear whether those plans were previewed in their 1st getting acquainted call. how is this likely to affect other nato allies, terry, who have been relying on the u.s. to lead operations in afghanistan, yet, areas not just leaving operations, it's also very much about stability on the ground in which they do their daily tasks. the u.s. is the largest force presence there. it also has another unilateral deployment in afghanistan. and this is very important for all the allies. there are 3 other framework nations, turkey, italy, and germany who are dependent on the infrastructure the u.s. provides. and it, it's up to them now to decide what they're going to do. if the u.s. troop presence is in fact slashed. but let's remember, it may not happen. ok,

terry, thank you so much for now. that was our correspondent, teri schultz in brussels. take a look at some other stories making headlines around the world today. president trump has fired his top cyber security official, chris crepes, twitter in a tweet, trump accused of making an inaccurate statement. when he confirmed the security of the november 3rd election continues to claim the election was marred by fraud, but has yet to provide evidence. argentinians took to the streets to celebrate the country's president sent congress a bill to legalize abortion. will fulfill a campaign pledge, which was previously delayed by coronavirus, abortion is largely prohibited across latin america. and it says its troops are marching on the capital of the region. after a deadline for rebel forces to surrender passed earlier,

the federal government carried out what it called surgical air strikes on the city, and also said that a final military operation would be completed within days. the government has so far resisted international pressure for mediation in the conflict, but fallout from 2 weeks of fighting has the potential to destabilize the entire region and has already started with. the u.n. says is a full scale humanitarian crusts. ethiopian air force fighter jets on a mission in the skies above tikrit i captured by d.w. journalist on the ground. local t.v. showed what appeared to be buildings damaged by the air offensive to

be escalating. violence has sent thousands, spilling out beyond ethiopia's borders. aid groups say 25000, people have fled to sit down since the fighting broke out. half of them children. well, i don't think, you know, we came with the clothes on our backs. i don't know where my husband is. i've been looking for him for 5 days. and i don't know where he is in an exclusive interview with t w. ethiopia's minister of defense says his country's fight was with rebel groups. group that you really must occur in ethiopia, gross violation of rights, and then they contradicted your p.r. . therefore, it is,

the operation is getting this the state t.v. pictures claim to show national forces liberating towns, but hundreds are reported to have been killed. nevertheless, the government continues to resist calls for external mediation. so i'm sure they let your war internal affairs. so. 'd and also if it doesn't take many, many months, it is really going to be a complete get within a week. therefore, we don't consider it is a big, it's a spanking but regional t.v. appeared to show footage of captured eritrean troops with whom the rebel forces have also been fighting. ethiopia's prime minister has promised a quick end to the conflict with his quote, final and crucial military operation. he said then he'd be ready to reintegrate the

swelling numbers of refugees now trying to survive on the banks of the to keys the river in sudan. let's bring in journalist samuel, get a chair here and he's been helping us cover this developing story. samuel, let's 1st talk about the government's military offensive in the to cry. region president says he's starting what he calls a final operation. what does he mean by that? he thinks the crisis will mend. that is frightening and you know, it's been almost 2 weeks since he'd begun leave today's the 2 weeks or so he believes it will end because a crisis on the ground is reaching even the un can't even be in a position to help them. you know, so far above 50000 ethiopians official numbers because they're

looking for shelter there because of the crisis. so it's not only way a crisis that's just so many lives, even the infrastructure generation to be able to be destroyed in this crisis. so he believes it will end basin and reach its mission and just end it so everything least gives to normal and people won't be in a position to be either killed or destroyed. a number of countries have urged to ethiopia to resolve this conflict through negotiation. is there any sign that president nobel peace prize laureate might be open to that? you know, why do countries later, you know, generally end canada just the tip few hours ago saying there has to be some kind of

cease fire given to any and uganda joining with the continent. the former president doesn't, it has just arrived in ethiopia, looking for some sort of mediation. i think the world is beginning to understand. the crisis isn't just a local crisis within the borders. it's reaching into the sudan and it will reach many, many countries outside of the continent. and that's why a country south even seriously, because just imagine 30000 refugees into the sudan and the u.n. says it will reach up to 200000 who are close. and there are many people dying in the resort, it's just a crisis that's so overwhelming. and i think everyone is beginning to understand that it's hostile and that's obviously why the government sent its will. and within days it's under pressure by many, many countries. briefly, samuel, those tens of thousands of refugees that you've already talked about. do they have

any prospect of going back? should this conflict be resolved? if you just stay in to ship, you know, the time that is said to be said to us tonight, see the fight is between. the t.p.s. government knows who the people. so there are some force for understanding. it's their own land and easy to feel safe. but there has to be some kind of safety for them to go out because there are too many of them. 10000 fish on longest doesn't be released. this is just a crisis that's overwhelming and some of them need to go back because it's their home. so i'm going to go so much. thank you very much. that was journalist samuel, get a true there in addis ababa for sports news now . and the german soccer team has suffered its worst defeat in almost 90 years.

germany lost 6 nil to spain in their final nations league group match. fair, fair and scored fair and taurus scored 3 of spain's pool goals. the result means spain finishes ahead of germany in their group. that's your news update for now i'm terry martin. thanks for watching why are people forced to hide in trucks there are many reasons there are many cancers and there are many.