Obama outlines plan to keep 5,500 troops in

Afghanistan

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At a news conference Thursday, Oct. 15, President Obama says the U.S. will maintain
9,800 troops in Afghanistan through most of 2016 and will not go down to a normal
embassy presence by the end of 2016, but instead will keep 5,500 troops at a small
number of bases. (AP)

By Greg Jaffe and Missy Ryan-October 15

President Obama said Thursday he will keep 5,500 U.S. troops in Afghanistan into
2017, ending his ambitions to bring home most American forces from that war-torn
country before he leaves office.
The president said his decision came after an extensive months-long review that
included regular discussions with Afghanistans leaders, his national security team and
U.S. commanders in the field. The move reflected a painful, if predictable, reality on
the ground in Afghanistan, where the Taliban has made gains over the last year as
Afghan troops have taken over the vast majority of the fighting.
Afghan forces are still not as strong as they need to be, Obama said Thursday
morning from the White House, explaining his decision. Meanwhile, the Taliban has
made gains particularly in rural areas and can still launch deadly attacks in cities,
including Kabul.
[The Islamic State is making these Afghans long for the Taliban]
Obama said he will also dramatically slow the pace of the reduction of American forces
and plans to maintain the current U.S. force of 9,800 through most of 2016. The post-

2016 force would still be focused on training and advising the Afghan army, with a
special emphasis on its elite counterterror forces. The United States would also
maintain a significant counterterrorism capability of drones and Special Operations
forces to strike al-Qaeda and other militants who may be plotting attacks against the
United States.

The revised troop plans came just weeks after Afghan forces were driven from
Kunduz, the first major city to fall to the Taliban since the war began in 2001. Two
weeks passed before the Afghans, with some support from U.S. planes and Special
Operations advisers, took the city back from the Taliban.
The bottom line is that in key areas of the country, the security situation is still very
fragile, and in some places theres risk of deterioration, Obama said.

The president praised the Afghan government, under the leadership of President
Ashraf Ghani, as a willing partner, and he lauded the Afghan troops. Both were critical
factors in his decision to keep U.S. troops in the country.
Every single day, Afghan forces are out there fighting and dying to protect their
country, Obama said. They are not looking to us do it for them.
The president acknowledged the strain that the last decade of combat has taken on
the U.S. military and Americas broader war weariness. As you are well aware, I do
not support the idea of endless war, he said.
But the potential for Afghanistan to reemerge as a terrorist haven and the prospects
for long-term success in the country drove his decision. The continued U.S. presence,
Obama said, would give Afghanistan its best chance to achieve lasting progress.
Obamas decision also follows the collapse of the U.S.-trained Iraqi army in northern
and western Iraq last summer under pressure from Islamic State militants. White
House officials stressed that, when U.S. troops withdrew from Iraq in 2011, the U.S.
lacked a capable and willing partner in the Iraqi central government.

In Kabul, Afghan officials welcomed the move as a way to keep pressure on militants
as well as give more time to bolster and train Afghan security forces.
Its very positive in light of the continued problems that this region is facing, said
Mohammad Daud Sultanzoy, a presidential candidate in 2014 who is now allied with
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani. Our security have shown the will and capability to
fight, but we still need the support of our allies, especially the United States.

Gen. Sayed Malok, a commander in Ghazni province southwest of Kabul, called it a

good decision at the moment but a temporary solution.
The permanent solution is to train and equip Afghan forces, said Malok, whose units
faced insurgent attacks this week against the provincial capital.
The U.S. decision is a significant departure from the exit plan that
Obamaannounced in a White House Rose Garden speech in May 2014. In keeping
with his promise to turn the page on the costly wars launched by his predecessor,
Obama said then that he would reduce the U.S. military footprint to around 1,000
troops, all based in Kabul, by the end of 2016.
That minimal force would have prevented the U.S. military from advising Afghan forces
in combat or conducting counterterrorism operations against al-Qaeda or threats to the
homeland.
The larger force of 5,500 troops is projected to cost about $15 billion a year, or about
$5 billion more than the smaller, 1,000-person Kabul-based force would have cost.
Although U.S. deaths have fallen off dramatically in recent years, the change will also
mean more U.S. casualties. So far this year, 25 American service members and
civilians have been killed in the country. Twenty-five deaths are 25 too many,
particularly for the families of the fallen, Obama said.
But he emphasized that Afghans would continue to take the lead role in the fighting,
with Americans providing only advice and some counterterrorism support from bases
outside Kabul. These bases will give us the presence and the reach our forces
require to achieve their mission, he said.
The change in course acknowledges the struggles of the Afghan forces, which are
suffering casualties at an unsustainable rate, senior military officials said, and have
been losing ground throughout Afghanistan to the Taliban. The presidents decision is
not directly related to the fall of Kunduz, administration officials said.
This specific posture has been under consideration for months, an administration
official said. Obviously we were mindful of the dynamic security situation.
Obama discussed the decision in a call Wednesday with Ghani, the Afghan president,
who has pressed American officials to commit to staying longer in his country.
Under the proposal approved by Obama this week, the U.S. military would retain
bases in Kabul, as planned, but also have forces at Bagram air base and at bases
outside Kandahar and Jalalabad, the largest cities in Afghanistans southern and
eastern regions.
The decision is a stark illustration of how persistent militant threats have stood in the
way of Obamas promises to end the ground wars that have dominated U.S. foreign
policy since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Last week, U.S. troops launched a major
operation against al-Qaeda in Kandahar, the Talibans historic heartland. U.S. aircraft
conducted 63 strikes in support of Afghan forces who assaulted two militant bases,
one of which covered an area of nearly 30 square miles, according to Brig. Gen.

Wilson Shoffner, a spokesman for U.S. forces. Those strikes targeted forces aligned
with al-Qaeda, the military said.
[After Kunduz, Taliban is now targeting other Afghan cities]
The extended Afghanistan presence could be part of a global network of
counterterrorism facilities that, according to a plan championed by Gen. Martin E.
Dempsey, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, would allow the United States
to better manage acute threats without requiring large conventional forces on the
ground.
Despite 14 years of military operations by the United States and other NATO nations,
Afghanistan remains a dangerous place. This week, even as the Taliban withdrew from
Kunduz, the northern city it seized late last month, the militants were advancing on
other urban areas.
Al-Qaeda appears to have staked out new ground outside the remote mountain areas
along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, where its fighters have been relegated in
recent years.
Thats what this debate is about: how much we are willing to invest in preventing
Afghanistan's return as a serious threat to the region, said James Cunningham, the
U.S. ambassador in Kabul until 2014. Im convinced thats whats going to happen if
we withdraw too rapidly.
Obama reviewed several proposals for a post-2016 force over the spring and summer
before finally settling on the current plan, which was based on a plan brought forward
in August by Dempsey, officials said.
Sudarsan Raghavan, Sayed Salahuddin and Mohammad Sharif in Kabul contributed
to this report.
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