US president slows Afghanistan troop withdrawal
WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama on Tuesday reversed plans to withdraw about 5,000 US troops from wartorn Afghanistan this year, an overture to the country’s new reform-minded leader.
Hosting Ashraf Ghani at the White House for a first presidential head-to-head, Obama agreed to keep the current level of 9,800 US troops in Afghanistan until the end of 2015.
“President Ghani had requested some flexibility on our drawdown timelines,” Obama said after an Oval Office meeting aimed at setting aside years of unease between Kabul and it nominal ally.
Obama said a decision to meet Ghani’s request “reflects our reinvigorated partnership with Afghanistan.”
“We want to make sure that we’re doing everything we can to help Afghan security forces succeed.”
Ghani took charge six months ago after elections and protracted power-sharing negotiations.
Since taking office he has embraced calls to tackle corruption and for Afghan forces to lead the
We want to make sure that we’re doing everything we can to help Afghan security forces succeed.
fight against Taliban militants.
But last year’s April- October fighting season was one of the most bloody on record, exposing Afghans’ poor command, insufficient training and a lack of crucial equipment.
Obama’s decision means 350,000 Afghan security personnel will have air and other key US support through this year’s fighting season, which begins in weeks.
Katherine Blakeley, a defence policy analyst at the non-profit Centre for American Progress in Washington, said Obama’s announcement would allow the US to keep key bases open in Taliban- active areas like Jalalabad and Kandahar.
“It’s very significant,” she said, it shows Afghan troops “they have our support, they are not going to be an easy target.”
Barack Obama, US President
Ghani vowed that the breathing space “will be used to accelerate reforms, to ensure that the Afghan National Security Forces are much better led, equipped, trained and are focused on the fundamental mission.” But it is a temporary reprieve. Obama indicated he intends to hold fast to a promise to withdraw almost all troops by 2017, when he is set to leave office.
A decision on 2016 troop levels will be made later this year.
He also stressed that US troops still in Afghanistan “are not on the frontlines because they’re not in a combat role,” as he praised the “courage and tenacity” of the much-maligned Afghan forces. — AFP