The US, NATO and Afghanistan government all agree to end combat operations in 2014, said Secretary of Defense Robert Gates who made a surprise visit to troops in Afghanistan on Monday.
Gates added, however, training forces could stay beyond the new 2014
deadline. In 2009, President Obama announced that troops would begin to withdraw in 2011. According to Defense Officials that process will begin this July.
“Obviously it would be a small fraction of the presence that we have today,
but I think we’re willing to do that,” Gates said to U.S. troops during at
Bagram air field. “My sense is, they (Afghan officials) are interested in
having us do that.”
