His new plan to leave 5,500 counterterrorism troops and trainers in the country in 2017 will give Afghanistan another chance to succeed – and perhaps spare the next president an early crisis. Obama sees Ghani as a more reliable partner than former President Hamid Karzai, a mercurial leader who deeply frustrated the White House. “They’re not looking for us to do it for them”, Obama said. Of course, the USA still has troops n South Korea because the threat from North Korea has not diminished all these decades after the cessation of hostilities there, and we still have troops in Germany, even though the Soviet Union is no longer in existence.
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But the administration was also careful not to set any grand goals for what another year of progress would look like.
“I suspect that we will continue to evaluate this going forward, as will the next president”, Obama said, standing alongside Vice President Joe Biden, Defense Secretary Ash Carter and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Joseph Dunford.
Lauren Alaquinez will soon say goodbye to her husband for the fifth time in three years, when he deploys once again to Afghanistan with the US Army Special Forces.
So this might not work?
Given all of that, let’s review a few of Obama’s previous statements on Afghanistan.
Separately, a press release from U.S. Forces-Afghanistan revealed that beginning October. 7, the US military “conducted 63 precision strikes while Afghan forces engaged in several battles on the ground against al-Qaeda networks at two related sites”.
“You really want them to be home with their families, but you know how much it takes to keep a country free”, said Corley, whose husband is a veteran. Yet during his presidency, the US has bombed seven separate Muslim countries.
But the troops aren’t all there for training and advising, right? He makes no mention of there now more than 30,000 United States paid contractors in Afghanistan.
The United States along with a coalition of allies is carrying out regular airstrikes against Islamic State targets in Iraq and Syria.
Obama stressed Thursday that the U.S.’s continued involvement in Afghanistan was aimed at continuing to protect the USA homeland from terrorists.
Second, Obama’s decision doesn’t mean it will be vindicated by history. It shows that the Afghan government appreciates that the war against the Taliban is not over.
North Atlantic Treaty Organisation allies are supportive of Obama’s decision to keep US troops in Afghanistan, reported Fox, and that during a meeting of defense ministers held last week, “Carter urged allies to remain flexible and consider abandoning their earlier timelines to cut troop levels in Afghanistan”.
Either way, it certainly has a political dimension: One of Obama’s major campaign promises was to get the USA out of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Earnest had an answer to that.
Across the country, military families echoed that stoicism with a mixture of frustration, acceptance and resignation at the news that the 14-year conflict would be prolonged. And they often resist plans to end them, one way or another.
It added that it remained open to the prospect of peace talks with the Taliban.
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But, he added, “I’m firmly convinced that we should make this extra effort”. Jeb Bush said in a statement that he supports troop increases but thinks the president is not doing enough to carry out the vision of military commanders. That drawdown was arguably unrealistic at the time it was unveiled, and as the president noted, the Taliban has made gains in recent months while Islamic State has established a foothold. The hospital had been suspected of having a Taliban presence; the head of US forces in Afghanistan Gen. John Campbell told reporters it was the Afghans who requested the airstrike.
