WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. should keep troops in Afghanistan after the combat mission ends next year, but a decision on the number can wait until the Afghan army has been tested in this summer’s fighting, the top U.S. commander in Kabul said Tuesday.

In his first congressional testimony since taking over in February, Marine Gen. Joseph Dunford told the Senate Armed Services Committee that the U.S. should make an assessment in November, at the customary end of the fighting season.