according to American officials. Estimates of the number of troops that could stay vary from as little as 10,000 to as many as 25,000 or 30,000. But Secretary Clinton reiterated on July 7, 2012, that Washington did envision keeping American troops in Afghanistan, where they would provide the kind of air power and surveillance capabilities needed to give Afghan forces an edge over the Taliban. "This is the kind of relationship that we think will be especially beneficial as we do the transition and as we plan for the post-2014 presence," she said. "It will open the door to Afghanistan's military to have a greater capability and a broader kind of relationship with the United States and especially the United States military." In 2018, the U.S. agreed to reduce their number of troops to 8,600 from approximately 13,000 over the coming months. Afghanistan Papers In December 2019, the Afghanistan Papers revealed that high-ranking military and government officials were generally of the opinion that the war in Afghanistan was unwinnable, but kept this hidden from the public. The report, titled "Lessons Learned", estimates that 40% of U.S. aid to Afghanistan since 2001 ended up in the pockets of corrupt officials, warlords, criminals and insurgents. Ryan Crocker, former ambassador to Afghanistan and Iraq, told the investigators in a 2016 interview, "You just cannot put those amounts of money into a very fragile state and society, and not have it fuel corruption." Peace Agreement between Taliban and United States On February 29, 2020, Khalilzad (U.S. envoy) and Taliban's Baradar signed a conditional peace agreement that paves a path for a significant drawdown of the U.S. military in Afghanistan before May 2021. The agreement also includes guarantees from the Taliban side that the nation will not be used for any terrorist activities. The deal explains intra-Afghan negotiation must start the following month, Ghani, the Afghan president, said the Taliban should meet his own conditions of government before entering the talks. The U.S.- Taliban agreement does not call for an immediate cease-fire. In the days just after signing the agreement, fighters of the Taliban carried out dozens of attacks on Afghan security forces. In response to the attack, the U.S. carried out airstrikes against Taliban troops in the southern province of Helmand. With the signing of the US-Taliban peace agreement on the 29th of February 2020, U.S. and NATO allies have agreed to reduce the