The decision to keep additional forces in Afghanistan through 2015 means that some U.S. troops’ homecomings may be delayed, the Pentagon said Wednesday.
As part of Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani’s visit to the U.S this week, President Obama announced Tuesday at the White House that he would keep all 9,800 troops currently in Afghanistan there through the end of 2015. The president’s original plan called for U.S. forces to draw down to about 5,500 by the end of this year, but Ghani requested the troops stay through this year’s Taliban fighting season, which starts in the spring.
Keeping U.S. forces at their present levels reduces the risk that any power vacuums would be created due to U.S. troops’ departures at the same time that the Taliban typically escalates its attacks throughout the country.
“There were some forces that were perhaps originally planned to leave on ‘X’ date, and we may not be able to generate other forces quickly enough so an area will continue to be occupied. There may be some limited extensions here and there,” said Pentagon spokesman Col. Steve Warren. “It won’t be an across-the-board situation … this is something that personnel [experts] and logisticians are working very hard at now.”
