Hillary Clinton on Friday swung squarely behind President Barack Obama’s decision to keep USA troops in Afghanistan, calling his decision “one that I agree with”.
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“I do not send you into harm’s way lightly”, Obama said, addressing his remarks to the troops.
Officials said discussions on staying in Afghanistan longer began during Ghani’s visit to Washington in March.
John McCain, R-Ariz., chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, praised the decision but said Obama should have kept a larger number of troops in Afghanistan for a longer period.
If American troops left, it’s unlikely the Taliban would be able to retake control of the country, Gouttierre said, because Afghans don’t want that and they now have the capability to stop it. “We understand that Afghanistan still needs assistance”. “And his decision is one that I agree with”. Given that, and the failure of poorly trained, inadequately motivated Afghan forces to make the strides necessary to secure the wild countryside, there’s good reason to be skeptical the drawdown delay will make a whit of difference in the long-term struggle against the Taliban and their terrorist allies.
Lately Afghan security forces have been thinly stretched across the country due to a Taliban onslaught in many districts.
He called the new war plan a “modest but meaningful” extension of the U.S. military mission in Afghanistan.
So much for Obama’s boast, while prematurely announcing the war’s end previous year, that “we’re finishing the job we started”.
Mr Obama, a Democrat, has faced steady criticism from Republicans on security issues as he has pursued a policy of winding down the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan since he first took office in 2009.
The president had made withdrawal a core campaign pledge but recent dramatic Taliban gains, including the brief capture of the major city of Kunduz, has jolted confidence that Afghan government forces can hold their own against the rebels.
As defensible as this decision may be, however, it revives the question of whether the U.S.is holding itself hostage to improvements in security and self-governance that the leaders of Afghanistan never seem to achieve. The American forces will be based in Kabul and at Bagram Air Field, as well as bases in Jalalabad and Kandahar. “While America’s combat mission in Afghanistan may be over, our commitment to Afghanistan and its people endures”.
Late last month, Taliban fighters briefly took over Kunduz before it was driven out from the strategic northern city by Afghan forces, backed by United States air strikes. During the battle a US airstrike mistakenly targeted a hospital operated by Doctors Without Borders, killing 12 of the organization’s staff and 10 patients.
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“The USA military presence and financial sustainment will enable the Afghan security forces to continue their development as an agile and sustainable set of forces, capable of meeting Afghan security challenges, and partnering with us against terrorist exploitation of the region”, Carter told reporters at the Pentagon.
