President Barack Obama on Wednesday announced a slowing in the withdrawal of USA forces in Afghanistan as 8,400 US troops will remain in the country through 2016.
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The president announced Wednesday that he will leave 8,400 USA troops in Afghanistan into 2017, rather than cut the force to 5,500 at the end of the year as initially planned. They’ve gained ground in some cases, they’ve continued attacks and suicide bombings including in Kabul.
Mr. Obama said the decision, which will reduce the USA force from the current 9,800 troops, won’t alter the soldiers’ narrow missions of training and advising Afghan security forces, and waging counterterrorism operations. Given that the current commander was pushing for around 9,800 troops to be in Afghanistan by year’s end, it’s likely that successor will be pressured by the commander to continue the conflict, and potentially even escalate it.
Obama has been under pressure from US allies to make a decision following a North Atlantic Treaty Organisation announcement last month that the alliance would maintain troops in regional locations around Afghanistan.
Washington and its North Atlantic Treaty Organisation partners said that the “combat mission” in Afghanistan was over in December 2014, and Obama established a plan to gradually withdraw US troops over the remainder of his term in office.
In response to Obama’s announcement, Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid told Al Jazeera: “Whether the U.S. decides to keep [its] troops in Afghanistan or not, whether the numbers are more or less, we will continue to fight them”.
He previously planned to cut troop levels to 5,500 before leaving office.
NATO’s future involvement in the fight is to be a major topic when Obama attends a North Atlantic Treaty Organisation summit later this week in Warsaw, Poland. “All of us have a vital interest in the security and stability of Afghanistan”.
Senate Armed Services Chairman John McCain, Arizona Republican who had been urging Mr. Obama not to cut troop levels further, said the decision “is certainly preferable to cutting those forces by almost half”.
The surge in Afghan violence has led Washington to rethink its exit strategy.
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Stavridis, now dean of the Fletcher School at Tufts University, added that it would be hard to maintain the hub-and-spoke allied presence in the north and west without keeping at least 8,000 US troops in the country. Obama said this was “the right thing to do”. The new drawdown plan was announced, and also reinforced the probability that the United States will remain inside of Afghanistan for years to come. The Afghan security forces have more than 320,000 members and they are providing security for the people. But it also said public opinion surveys indicate Afghans don’t feel better protected.
