President Barack Obama announced changes to his plans to draw down the number of US forces in Afghanistan, saying the United States will maintain 8,400 troops in the country into 2017 as he acknowledged that after more than 14 years of war “the security situation in Afghanistan remains precarious”. President Barack Obama had planned to drop the number to 5,500 by the end of this year. And it will allow the USA military to expand its work with Afghan forces as they face a resurgent Taliban and a troubling presence of Islamic State fighters in the country.
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Republican leaders in Congress who favor a larger troop force said Obama’s new plan was preferable to the old one, but they criticized him for not keeping the full 9,800. But a Taliban resurgence and the Afghan military’s continuing struggles have led the White House to rethink its exit strategy.
Obama said the decision to leave more troops in Afghanistan was reached in consultation with his military and national security advisers, members of Congress, and Afghan leaders.
The tone of that comment contrasted with the President’s repeated vows to end the Afghan war, including a declaration in December 2014 at the end of us combat operations that “the longest war in American history is coming to a responsible conclusion”.
The review looked at the current security environment in Afghanistan, the capabilities of Afghan troops and the last two fighting seasons, according to a USA official who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
Obama says the security situation in Afghanistan remains precarious.
Still, the president vowed that the USA role would center on training and advising Afghan troops, and he emphasized the military’s shrunken footprint in Afghanistan, down from a high of more than 100,000 troops early in his administration.
“The ability of the Afghans to hold the line is not primarily being shaped by whether there are 9,800 or 8,400 or 5,500 U.S. soldiers”, Biddle said, noting that the troop count is “more about the optics and the politics of this than it is about military capability”.
ABC News takes a closer look at what will happen to a war America has fought for 14 years.
Afghanistan, after years of battling the Taliban, vestiges of al-Qaeda, and extremists allied with the Islamic State, remains a unsafe place.
The announcement comes several days before Obama attends a North Atlantic Treaty Organisation summit in Poland, where leaders from across Europe will discuss the remaining challenges in Afghanistan.
“Our forces are now focused on two narrow missions: training and advising Afghan forces and supporting counter-terrorist operations”, Obama said during an address from the White House.
“It’s disappointing that the administration thinks that troop numbers are a substitute for a more comprehensive strategy”, said a US defense official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Obama came into office promising to end the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, but this decision ensures that he’ll leave with the USA still enmeshed in conflicts in both of those countries while wrestling with new ones in Syria and Libya.
“Even as we work for peace, we have to deal with the realities of the world as it is”, Mr. Obama said.
Lindsey Graham, South Carolina Republican, said Mr. Obama made a big mistake when he pulled all US troops out of Iraq in 2011, and he should not repeat that mistake in Afghanistan. He had hoped to reduce the current force of 9,800 to 5,500 by early 2017.
With only a few months left in office, Obama said additional troops would enable his successor to have “a solid foundation for continued progress” in Afghanistan.
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, welcomed Obama’s decision but had reservations.
“We have lost 2,382 fearless American servicemembers, and more than 20,000 have been wounded”, she said.
For the first quarter of this year, as many as 600 civilians were killed and 1,343 were injured, according to a United Nations report in April, with the Taliban responsible for six out of every 10 casualties.
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The president said his decision will allow his successor the leeway to make changes in the U.S, mission in Afghanistan.
