President
Barack Obama, calling Afghanistan’s security situation precarious, said
on July 6 he will keep U.S. troop levels there at 8,400 through the end
of his administration rather than reducing them to 5,500 by year’s end
as previously planned.
Obama,
in a statement at the White House, said the role of U.S. forces in
Afghanistan will remain unchanged: training and advising Afghan police
and troops, and supporting counterterrorism missions against the Taliban and other groups. Obama’s presidency ends in January.
Obama’s
plan still calls for a reduction in U.S. troop levels from the current
roughly 9,800, but not as much as previously planned.
Obama,
who took office in 2009 pledging to wind down the U.S. wars in Iraq and
Afghanistan, said he had ended America’s combat mission in Afghanistan.
But he acknowledged that security concerns persist.
“The security situation in Afghanistan remains precarious,” Obama said. “The Taliban remains a threat. They’ve gained ground in some places.”
Taliban
forces now hold more territory in Afghanistan than at any time since
the 2001 U.S.-led invasion, according to recent United Nations
estimates. The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group has
also established a small presence in Afghanistan.
Obama’s
decision, which came after a review submitted last month by the U.S.
commander in Afghanistan, Army General John Nicholson, drew some
criticism inside and outside his administration.
Some Pentagon officials said that it does nothing to address the deteriorating security situation in Afghanistan.
“It’s
disappointing that the administration thinks that troop numbers are a
substitute for a more comprehensive strategy,” said a U.S. defense
official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “This is neither the
reduction that the White House seems to have wanted nor the current
numbers that don’t seem to be sufficient to deal with the security
problem.”
Mac
Thornberry, the Republican chairman of the House of Representatives
Armed Services Committee, criticized what he said was a new cap on U.S.
troop levels.
“It is time that the president level with the American
people about what it will really take to achieve our goals in
Afghanistan, and how much it will cost,” Thornberry said in a
statement.
Obama spoke in advance of a NATO
summit on July 8 and July 9 in Warsaw, Poland, where alliance members
are expected to confirm their support for the Kabul government.
In addition to the U.S. forces, there are about 3,000 other international troops in Afghanistan.
U.S. troops have been in Afghanistan since the 2001 invasion launched by Obama’s predecessor, George W. Bush, that toppled the Taliban
leaders who harbored the al Qaeda organization responsible for the
Sept. 11 attacks on the United States that killed about 3,000 people. It
is America’s longest war.
During
his announcement at the White House, Obama was flanked by Defense
Secretary Ash Carter and the top U.S. military officer, General Joe
Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.