Share

Obama’s Afghanistan Quandary: Will the Troops Come Home?

Two days after US President Barack Obama announced to keep the American troops till 2017 in Afghanistan, the Taliban has urged its fighters to carry out intense attacks on American targets in the war-torn country.

Advertisement

Under the new $15 billion-a-year plan, the USA will maintain its current force of 9,800 through most of 2016, then begin drawing down to 5,500 late in the year or in early 2017.

The administration had originally planned to keep only about 1,000 USA forces post-2016, with a focus on protecting the US embassy in Kabul.

He called the new war plan a “modest but meaningful” extension of the United States military mission in Afghanistan.

Foreign Office Spokesman Qazi Khalilullah, speaking at the weekly media briefing, said: “We support peace and security in Afghanistan because that is also in the vital interest of Pakistan”.

For example, the actions of U.S. Special Operations forces on the ground in Kunduz show USA troops are doing more than “training Afghan forces” or targeting Al Qaeda.

Last week, the Senate Armed Services Committee’s Republican Chairman John McCain told NPR’s Steve Inskeep he expected the US military presence in Afghanistan to be permanent. This would allow the next president to reassess the situation as it exists at the end of 2016 and make decisions about our commitment to Afghanistan going forward based on the best military advice at that time. He’s faced criticism from a few liberals who say he hasn’t stuck to his promises, and from many conservatives who argue that the military drawdowns have weakened the USA standing.

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 US-led coalition officially ended its combat mission a year ago and the remaining troops are there to train and advise Afghan counterparts to police their own nation and to carry out counterterrorism operations.

“Abdullah used his speeches to demand the USA to reconsider its decision of troops’ withdrawal from Afghanistan because the Afghan forces are not capable of defending the country”, the HIA chief said in a statement this week.

Senator Joe Donnelly (D-IN) and Congresswoman Jackie Walorski (R-2nd) say the US needs to learn from the rise of ISIS in Iraq after USA troops pulled out.

“It means they aren’t honest about a peaceful solution to the Afghan crisis”, he said, speaking on condition of anonymity. There are more than 6,000 non-U.S. forces in Afghanistan as part of the “Resolute Support” mission. USA troops have been stationed in the country since the fall of 2001.

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio wrote that he “welcomed the President’s decision”, but disagreed with what he characterized as a premature decision to announce another withdrawal before the end of his presidency.

As late as this summer, he was clinging to a plan to bring home the remaining American troops by the end of his presidency, despite appeals to reconsider from the Afghan government, US commanders and North Atlantic Treaty Organisation allies.

And in December 2014, he echoed that boast: “Our combat mission in Afghanistan will be over this month, and our war in Afghanistan will come to a responsible end”.

Advertisement

We reached out to our online community of veterans about the announcement, and asked if they think U.S. troops staying on in Afghanistan is a good idea, or whether the United States should cut its losses.

President Barack Obama accompanied by from left Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Joseph Dunford Defense Secretary Ash Carter and Vice President Joe Biden speaks about Afghanistan Thursday Oct. 15 2015 in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washing