Obama is unveiling a new plan for the U.S.to keep 5,500 troops in Afghanistan when he leaves office in 2017.
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Though the non-combat mission continues as now designed, one senior official said the president has ordered the military to “make sure we’re addressing threats to the homeland”. “I suspect that we will continue to evaluate this going forward, as will the next president”. U.S. officials have often said they don’t want to see a repeat of Iraq where security rapidly deteriorated following the withdrawal of USA forces in 2011.
Obama introduced a USA surge in Afghanistan early in his tenure, upping US troop levels to more than 100,000 and pushing back the Taliban on several fronts.
But while Republicans were pleased, the decision to keep a significant force in Afghanistan represents a major setback for Obama.
On Thursday, leading Democratic candidates – including Hillary Rodham Clinton, who served as Obama’s secretary of state – were silent about the president’s decision.
Military commanders have argued for months that Afghans needed additional assistance and support from the U.S.to beat back a resurgent Taliban and keep the Islamic State from using the country as a haven.
Mr Turnbull will discuss Australia’s mission in Afghanistan with Foreign Minister Julie Bishop and Defence Minister Marise Payne when they return following top-level Australia-US ministerial talks in Boston earlier this week. The former Florida governor did not say how many troops he thought would be sufficient.
According to a defense official, the president approved the highest number of troops requested by commanders, with the greatest amount of flexibility.
Carly Fiorina said she supported Obama’s “recognition of reality”, but criticized the President for not listening to military commanders.
Australia ended combat operations in Afghanistan at the end of 2013 but a few 250 troops remain under the Resolute Support mission which started in January and winds up at the end of 2016. The White House says the fault lies with an Iraqi government that marginalized minority Sunnis.
Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul was an outlier among Republican candidates.
The president did withdraw most USA troops from Iraq in late 2011, an action he heralded as a promise kept to a war-weary America. The top USA commander in Afghanistan, Gen. John Campbell, recently presented the president with a range of options calling for keeping more troops there based on his judgment of what it would take to sustain the Afghan army and minimize the chances of losing more ground. The White House has also been buoyed by having a more reliable partner in Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, who succeeded the mercurial Hamid Karzai a year ago. Obama will be out of office by the time troops are set to be drawn down again.
US-backed forces ousted the Taliban government from Kabul in 2001 shortly after the 9/11 attacks.
And on October 3 this year, an American bombing hit a hospital run by Doctors Without Borders (MSF), claiming the lives of 24 patients and medics.
North America correspondent Stephanie March reports from Washington. The American forces will be based in Kabul and at Bagram Air Field, as well as bases in Jalalabad and Kandahar.
At the Pentagon, Defense Secretary Ash Carter rebuffed criticism from McCain and others over the planned 5,500 troops.
Officials said North Atlantic Treaty Organisation allies had expressed support for extending the troop presence in Afghanistan, but they did not outline any specific commitments from other nations.
Obama insisted he wasn’t disappointed to know he’ll leave office with a war he pledged to stop still underway.
Recent intense fighting has underscored the continued role of American troops in training the still fledgling Afghan forces in vital counterterror operations.
Still, there’s no doubt the situation he’ll leave behind is far different from what he envisioned past year, when he announced it was time to “turn the page” and withdraw from Afghanistan.
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“Americans have learned that it’s harder to end wars than it is to begin them”, he said.
