President Obama to delay Afghanistan draw down

The next president will become the third US commander-in-chief to oversee the war and try to bring it to a close. On Wednesday, White House press secretary Josh Earnest said, “Over the last seven years we’ve made a lot of important progress”.

Until now, Afghanistan has barely been a factor in the 2016 presidential campaign.

The decision also comes amid gains by Taliban militants, a point Obama acknowledged as he said they are still capable of launching deadly attacks on cities including Kabul.

“Use this as fuel to make you a better person”.

“I know many of you have grown tired of this conflict”, he said, addressing the American people.

“Afghanistan remains unsafe”, Obama said.

According to officials, commanders will decide the pace of the decreasing of numbers. He said troops will continue to train Afghan forces and go after al Qaeda. The American forces will be based in Kabul and at Bagram Air Field, as well as bases in Jalalabad and Kandahar.

The foreign ministry of Russian Federation, which was engaged in a almost 10-year war in Afghanistan in the 1980s, said on Thursday it doubted the US decision would ease the situation in the country, RIA news agency reported.

The president did withdraw all USA troops from Iraq in late 2011, a moment he heralded as a promise kept to a war-weary nation.

“I do not agree, however, with his decision to prematurely announce a further drawdown before he leaves office”, Rubio said in a statement to reporters.

A significant reduction in US assistance “will greatly increase the chances that another major Taliban success-like that of Kunduz, and perhaps possibly again in Kunduz-will happen again”, she argued. For his a year ago in office, 5,500 troops will remain by the end of 2016.

Frequent conversations with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani also influenced the revision.

He said the troop level was determined based on consultations with coalition partners and considerations about the US defense budget.

“In the wake of its pullout from the key northern city of Kunduz, the Taliban is setting its sights on other provincial centers, triggering fears that more cities could fall as the insurgent group makes a tactical shift by targeting urban areas as much as rural districts. He’s now had to walk that back and says there is no clock”, Jones said, “The story of what the Islamic State has done in Iraq and Syria is a cautionary tale to how the Iraq war ended, compared to how the war in Afghanistan could end”.

Today, President Obama announced that he will keep 5,500 troops in Afghanistan through the rest of his presidency into 2017.