WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama said Wednesday that he will leave 8,400 U.S. troops in place in Afghanistan through the end of his presidency instead of the more significant drawdown he once promised as a cornerstone of his pledge to wind down foreign ground wars.
"Afghan forces are still not what they need to be," Obama said. "I will not allow Afghanistan to be used as a safe haven to attack our nation again," he added in a somber reference to 9/11.
Obama had planned to cut the current level of just under 10,000 troops to 5,500 by the end of this year but said his decision to adjust was guided by "what's happening on the ground" as Taliban fighters launch attacks on both civilian and NATO-coalition military targets and seize land in Afghanistan. The Taliban controls more territory than since the U.S.-led invasion there began in 2001, according to recent U.N. estimates.
The Pentagon set the stage for Obama's announcement last month when it reported changes to rules that restricted airstrikes against Taliban targets, a signal that military leaders had concluded that troop levels needed to remain constant. The Taliban will continue to pose security problems in southern Afghanistan as the summer fighting season goes on, Brig. Gen. Charles Cleveland, spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition in Kabul, warned last month.
Obama had fought such a concession for years against pressure from military leaders. Pentagon officials, haunted by the chaos in Iraq after Obama's decision to disengage the U.S. military there, were concerned that a speedy withdrawal would create more instability in Afghanistan. With counterterrorism efforts faltering in the country, Obama said he concluded that cutting troop levels in half would be irresponsible.
The president emphasized that the U.S. military's combat mission in Afghanistan is over, but acknowledged that American lives remain at risk there. In addition to troops, the U.S. relies on thousands of contractors in Afghanistan. Over the past year and a half, 38 U.S. troops and civilians have been killed in the country, Obama said.
Most U.S. troops are focused on advising Afghan police or military troops, or are tracking and killing leaders of the Taliban, al-Qaida or the Islamic State. In May, the U.S. killed Taliban leader Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansour southwest of the remote town of Ahmad Wal, in western Pakistan, in a drone strike authorized by Obama.
U.S. special operations troops still accompany Afghan forces on combat missions, while fighter jets and drones provide air support to ground troops. But one U.S. air attack mistakenly hit an international hospital in Kunduz in October, killing 42 medical workers, patients and other Afghans, and wounding dozens more.
Battles with the Taliban last year revealed glaring weaknesses in Afghan security forces, which suffered 5,500 deaths in combat last year.
The U.S.-led invasion in late 2001 was aimed at eradicating a sanctuary for al-Qaida, which had launched the Sept. 11 attacks, and ousting the Taliban from power in Kabul. It proved relatively easy to topple the Taliban, but difficult to pacify or unify a poverty-stricken country ruled by warlords. The U.S. has poured some $68 billion to build up Afghanistan's army and security forces with an additional $45 billion for humanitarian assistance, according to the U.S. special inspector general for Afghan reconstruction.
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, welcomed Obama's decision but had reservations.
"When the president himself describes the security situation in Afghanistan as 'precarious,' it is difficult to discern any strategic rationale for withdrawing 1,400 U.S. troops by the end of the year," he said.
Obama was set to leave Washington on Thursday for a summit in Poland with fellow NATO leaders to reassess their strategy in Afghanistan and the Middle East.
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