The US President Barack Obama has been forced to abandon his plans to withdraw nearly all United States troops from Afghanistan by the end of his term in 2017.
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King said those numbers will do the “bare minimum”, that is is needed, and “right now there are more Taliban forces around Afghanistan than at any time since 9/11″.
Mr Obama, who had promised in his 2012 re-election campaign to end the war, will slow down the withdrawal of troops, maintaining 9,800 troops at several Afghan bases throughout most of next year before reducing the number to 5,500 into the following year.
But recently, the Taliban have made progress in Afghanistan and the reconciliation process between the group and the Afghan government has fallen apart.
More US troops will remain in Afghanistan for an extended period of time. It’s still counter-terrorism and training Afghan troops.
While Obama is resisting a no-fly zone and ground troops seem out of the question, the USA did start this week airdropping weapons to Kurdish militias battling al-Qaida.
“I know many of you have grown tired of this conflict”, Mr. Obama said to the American people.
“I’ve already initiated consultations with key allies”, Carter said.
“The timeline for a withdrawal down to a embassy center presence, a normalization of our presence in Afghanistan, remains the end of 2016”, Obama said in a joint press conference with Ghani last March.
“Afghan forces are still not as strong as they need to be”, Obama acknowledged during an appearance at the White House, where he also said that the security situation in that country continues to be “very fragile”.
“When I submit my 2017 budget, I will include critical financial support to the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces to help it sustain its current force levels of 352,000 troops in 2017 and beyond”, Defense Secretary Ash Carter said Wednesday.
Obama’s decision came after Taliban fighters captured the northern city of Kunduz late last month. Almost 100,000 U.S. troops were stationed in Afghanistan at the mission’s peak in 2011.
Almost 2,200 USA soldiers have died in Afghanistan until now. “And as conditions improve, we’ll be in a position to make further adjustments”, he said at the White House.
The new announcement by Obama followed by months of argument by the military leaders who are insisting on additional assistance and support to the Afghans by United States to beat back a resurgent Taliban and hold onto gains made over the past 14 years in the country.
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This story was first published on CNN.com, “Obama again delays Afghanistan troop drawdown”.
