USA to maintain 9800 troops in Afghanistan till 2016 end

The decision to slow down the pace of withdrawing USA troops from Afghanistan was reportedly taken after Obama had talks with commanders, White House advisors, Pentagon officials and Afghan leaders.

“We urge our mujahideen (Taliban fighters) to devise plans to particularly hit American installations and related targets (in Afghanistan) and bring severity in such attacks”, a Pashto-language statement from the Taliban leadership council said, adding Obama’s decision will not stop the Taliban from furthering their “fast-moving ‘jihad’ (holy war) against occupation forces in Afghanistan”.

“Afghanistan is the key piece to the network of counterterrorism partnerships that we need from South Asia to Africa to deal more broadly with terrorist threats quickly and prevent attacks against our home”, he said. “The permanent solution is to train and equip Afghan forces”, said Gen. Sayed Malok, a commander in Ghazni Province, where the insurgents this week made an assault against the provincial capital southwest of Kabul.

The president says he will leave almost 10,000 US troops in Afghanistan through most of 2016 and there will still be 5,500 there when he leaves office.

Obama said the security situation in Afghanistan is still very fragile.

The Taliban on Thursday said their forces were prepared to keep fighting until American troops pull out of Afghanistan. The president had hoped to whittle the USA forces down to just 1,000 by the time he left office.

But now, by late next year or early 2017 when Obama steps down, their numbers are expected to remain at about 5,500.

Obama’s fourth strategy for the country included supporting Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and his government and ensuring that human rights were respected.

It will be up to Mr Obama’s successor – the third president to oversee the United States presence in Afghanistan – to decide how to proceed from there.

“We cannot separate the importance of governance from the importance of security”, Obama said.

Laurel Miller, the acting special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, said that the United States expects its other allies including its North Atlantic Treaty Organisation partners to have maintain additional troops.

“The US military personnel inside Afghanistan, while operating in a risky place, are not in a combat role there, and that is significant”, said spokesman Josh Earnest.

Officials said discussions on staying in Afghanistan longer began during Ghani’s visit to Washington in March.

HARI SREENIVASAN: US forces will be stationed in four locations, Kabul, Bagram, Jalalabad, and Kandahar.

“While America’s combat mission in Afghanistan may be over, our commitment to Afghanistan and its people endures”, he said.

“The next time that American men and women go into harm’s way, what is our adversary going to think, looking at the Iraq and Afghanistan situations?”