ISIL tests U. S. on Afghan exit
ISIL is already sending “advance guards” to Afghanistan and could expand into the country if the U. S. withdraws too quickly, the new Afghan president said Wednesday.
A day after successfully lobbying U. S. President Barack Obama to slow the withdrawal of American troops, Ashraf Ghani used a speech to the U. S. Congress to raise the spectre of ISIL extending into his country as it did in Iraq.
“We are the front line,” Ghani said as he urged the U. S. to continue its military and economic support for Afghanistan. “( ISIL) is already sending advance guards to southern and western Afghanistan to test our vulnerabilities.”
The Afghan leader, who took office last year after a divisive election, spoke during a visit to Washington intended to show he will be a more co- operative partner to America than his predecessor, Hamid Karzai.
While Karzai often lashed out at the West in public and infuriated the White House, Ghani has gone to great lengths to praise the U. S. and note the sacrifices it has made on behalf of Afghanistan.
His approach has paid dividends. Obama announced Tuesday that he was agreeing to the Afghan leader’s request not to withdraw any U. S. troops this year.
The White House had planned to cut the size of its forces to about 5,000 from 9,800 by the end of the 2015. The U. S. troop presence now will remain at 9,800 through the rest of the year, although Obama said he is still committed to withdrawing American forces by the end of 2016, leaving behind a small force to guard the U. S. Embassy.
The decision was also reportedly motivated by a desire to continue operating drone bases in Afghanistan to carry out strikes against al-Qaida targets in Pakistan.