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Obama to leave 9,800 U.S. troops in Afghanistan, senior official says Obama to leave 9,800 U.S. troops in Afghanistan, senior official says
(34 minutes later)
President Obama has decided to leave 9,800 U.S. troops in Afghanistan for one year beyond the withdrawal of combat forces in December, according to a senior administration official.President Obama has decided to leave 9,800 U.S. troops in Afghanistan for one year beyond the withdrawal of combat forces in December, according to a senior administration official.
The troops will include both forces to train and advise Afghanistan’s military and a separate group of Special Operations forces to continue counterterrorism missions against what the official called “the remnants of al-Qaeda.”The troops will include both forces to train and advise Afghanistan’s military and a separate group of Special Operations forces to continue counterterrorism missions against what the official called “the remnants of al-Qaeda.”
The decision, to be announced Tuesday afternoon, is contingent upon whether Afghanistan’s new president signs a bilateral security agreement that current President Hamid Karzai has refused to sign. The two candidates in a runoff election scheduled for June 14 have both said they will sign the accord. The decision, to be formally announced Tuesday afternoon by Obama, is contingent upon Afghanistan’s new president signing a bilateral security agreement that current President Hamid Karzai has refused to sign. The two candidates in a runoff election scheduled for June 14 have both said they will sign the accord.
The 9,800 troops will be based around Afghanistan until the end of 2015, after which they will be reduced by roughly half and consolidated in Kabul and at the Bagram airfield north of the capital. The 9,800 troops will be based at various locations in Afghanistan until the end of 2015, after which the force will be reduced by roughly half and consolidated in Kabul and at the Bagram airfield north of the capital.
At the end of 2016, most of those remaining troops will be withdrawn and the U.S. military presence will be confined to a defense group at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity before the announcement.At the end of 2016, most of those remaining troops will be withdrawn and the U.S. military presence will be confined to a defense group at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity before the announcement.
The decision is close to the recommendation of Gen. Joseph F. Dunford, Jr., the commander of U.S. and international troops in Afghanistan, who had asked for 10,000-12,000 troops.The decision is close to the recommendation of Gen. Joseph F. Dunford, Jr., the commander of U.S. and international troops in Afghanistan, who had asked for 10,000-12,000 troops.
Some of Obama’s national security advisers had proposed eliminating a residual U.S. force altogether when the final combat troops are withdrawn. NATO members who have agreed to leave military trainers in Afghanistan had said they would not do so without a U.S. presence. Some of Obama’s national security advisers had proposed eliminating a residual U.S. force altogether when the final combat troops are withdrawn.
The United States currently has approximately 32,800 troops in Afghanistan. The United States currently has approximately 32,800 troops in Afghanistan. Although both the Pentagon and the State Department have been pressing the White House for a post-2014 decision since late last year, Dunford has internally set September as a final decision deadline. As the drawdown continues over the summer, he plans to reconfigure the current force so that those remaining at the end of the year will fit the training and counterterrorism mission Obama plans to outline.
Several NATO and non-NATO countries with troops in Afghanistan have said they will leave modest contingents behind for training if the United States decided to do so. Most prominently, Germany is expected to continue operating a base in Mazar-e-Sharif, in the north, and Italy will likely retain its base in Herat, in the west.
During 2015, Obama’s plan will permit U.S. personnel to travel around the country from bases in Kandahar, in southern Afghanistan, in addition to Kabul and Bagram. Additional forces were perhaps be based in Jalalabad, near the Pakistan border.
The relatively robust U.S. presence, and a specific commitment to counterterrorism operations, will leave open the possibility of continuing drone strikes on al-Qaeda targets in Pakistan. There have been no strikes in Pakistan since December, when the administration reached an agreement with Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to greatly reduce the attacks.
The U.S., German and Italian presence in Afghanistan will also allow other U.S. personnel, including from the State Department and the CIA, to remain in Afghanistan in greater numbers, with security for travel.
Final post-2014 planning at both agencies has been on hold for months awaiting Obama’s decision. Negotiations on the bilateral security agreement were completed last fall, and a series of deadlines were set and ignored while Karzai’s signature was awaited.
In early spring, the administration ended talks with Karzai over the document, and said it would await a new president. The initial election round in Afghanistan was held in early April and both leading candidates who are now headed for a runoff — Abdullah Abdullah and Ashraf Ghani — have said they would sign it.
“We have both made the case” to the White House in recent weeks, a senior State Department official said, “that since they’ve both said they’d sign, you can make the decision now.”
Word of Obama’s decision was met with skepticism by some, who questioned the limited timespan of the deployment beyond the end of this year.
“I’m pleased the White House met the military’s request for forces in Afghanistan,” House Armed Services Committee Chairman Howard P. “Buck” McKeon (R-Calif.) said in a statement.
“However, holding this mission to an arbitrary egg-timer doesn’t make a lick of sense strategically...We are in Afghanistan because it was the spawning ground of al-Qaeda and the devastating attack on American soil,” McKeon said, referring to the Sept. 11, 2001, al-Qaeda attacks. “Those threats still exist.
“We leave when the Afghans can manage that threat, rather than on convenient political deadlines that favor poll numbers over our security,” he said.
In remarks to troops during his surprise visit to Afghanistan this past weekend, Obama said that the United States is drawing its mission there to a “responsible end.”
“We want to preserve the gains that you have helped to win. And we’re going to make sure that Afghanistan can never again, ever, be used to launch an attack against our country,” Obama said.
In its latest report to Congress on the Afghan war, the Pentagon said that Afghan security ministries continued to suffer from widespread corruption and nepotism, but it lauded the country’s nascent security forces for preventing insurgents from expanding their territorial reach.
The United States and other international donors have agreed to spend at least $4 billion a year to support the Afghan security forces between 2015-2017. Afghan security forces currently number 382,000.
Ernesto Londoño contributed to this report.