President Barack Obama, calling Afghanistan’s security situation precarious, said Wednesday he will keep US troop levels at 8,400 through the end of his administration rather than reducing them to 5,500 by year’s end as previously planned.
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President Obama surprised observers Wednesday when he announced the delay of a planned troop withdrawal from Afghanistan, saying a “precarious” security situation could benefit terrorists 15 years after the 9/11 attacks.
Around 10,000 troops remain in the country, and it was earlier planned that only 5,500 would be there at the end of this year.
President Barack Obama held a press conference Wednesday morning, informing the public that more troops than he had hoped for will be staying in Afghanistan.
As the security situation has deteriorated over the past year, American military commanders have made recommendations to the White House for troop levels and expanded authorities.
“Maintaining our forces at this specific level. will allow us to continue to provide tailored support to help Afghan forces continue to improve”, Obama said on Wednesday from the White House.
“I strongly believe that it is in our national security interest, especially after all the blood and treasure we have invested in Afghanistan over the years, that we give our Afghan partners the very best opportunity to succeed”, said Obama, speaking next to Ash Carter, the U.S. defence chief, and General Joseph Dunford, the top U.S. military commander. The Islamic State group has also established a small presence in Afghanistan.
Obama’s decision follows a review of the security situation by General John Nicholson, the new commander of the US-led North Atlantic Treaty Organisation mission in Afghanistan. Nicholson already has approved several such attacks against the Taliban in southern Afghanistan.
“I’ve never heard anyone suggest that our current level of 9,800 troops in Afghanistan is too high or that President Obama’s new 8,400 troop level will be just right”, Graham said in a statement.
In the end, Obama appeared to settle on a number that would show continued progress toward drawing down without jeopardizing the mission. In 2008, Barack Obama won the presidency in part by promising to end the war in Iraq and focus on the “good war” in Afghanistan.
Obama’s decision could have been worse, but this reduction doesn’t exactly strengthen the next president, James Carafano, vice president for foreign and defense policy studies at The Heritage Foundation, said.
Obama spoke of the approaching fifteenth anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the USA and of the “9/11 generation” of soldiers that have served in both Afghanistan and Iraq.
172-a-13-(President Barack Obama, speaking to reporters)-“as it evolves”-President Obama says keeping more troops in Afghanistan puts the next president in the best position to chart the future course of the USA mission there”.
Currently, there are about 9,800 USA troops authorized for Afghanistan.
Indeed, it’s estimated to cost an additional $3.5 billion in 2017 alone, according to Todd Harrison, a senior fellow and director of defense budget analysis at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a think tank in Washington, D.C.
He added that it “best positions” his successor to make future decisions about the involvement of US troops there.
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Obama spoke ahead of a forthcoming North Atlantic Treaty Organisation summit in Poland where alliance members are expected to confirm their support for the Kabul government. It is America’s longest war. How many of them are actually combat troops?
