WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump on Thursday said that US troop levels in Afghanistan will drop to 8,600 if a peace deal is reached with the Taliban and that a permanent presence will remain.

"We're going down to 8,600 and then we make a determination from there," Trump said in an interview with Fox News radio. "We're always going to have a presence."

Trump also said that if an attack on the United States originated from Afghanistan "we would come back with a force like... never before."