Afghanistan war: Trump's allies and troop numbers

After months of speculation about how President Trump would approach Afghanistan, his new strategy for America's longest running war scrapped deadlines for withdrawal and didn't include any commitments on troop numbers.

He did, though, give the green light to sending more US troops to Afghanistan.

So Reality Check decided to look into which countries have a military presence in Afghanistan and how numbers have changed over the course of nearly 16 years of armed conflict.

Of any foreign country, the US has deployed by far the largest number of troops.

The majority of the American servicemen and women work with the Nato mission "Resolute Support", which comprises troops from 39 nations (full list at the end of this article), to train, advise and assist the Afghan security forces.

A recent official figure put the total number of troops involved in Resolute Support at 13,576.

The sizeable number of US troops not deployed with the Nato mission conduct counter-terrorism operations.

The Nato combat mission, which numbered more than 130,000 in 2011, ended in December 2014.

Some of the wealthiest Nato members, like France and Canada, no longer contribute troops. During a violent part of the war in 2011, with troop levels at their peak, the UK had 9,500 troops in the country. It now has 500 in support of the Nato train-and-assist mission 

Full list of countries and number of troops involved in the Nato mission in Afghanistan: - Read More, BBC

Afghanistan war: Trump's allies and troop numbers