CAMP DAVID — The U.S. is committed to long-term security and strategic investment in Afghanistan and will not risk losing ground to the resurgence of the Taliban or the Islamic State, Secretary of State John Kerry said Monday, suggesting a larger role for U.S. forces there for the next two years and possibly beyond.
Kerry made the remarks at Camp David after a long day of talks with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, Afghanistan’s chief executive officer Abdullah Abdullah and U.S. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter.
Kerry said that the agreements the two countries came to Monday, which included an additional commitment to seek about $4 billion to fund training through 2017 for Afghanistan’s security forces, to build their troop levels from 330,000 to 352,0000, “have to send a message to anyone — Taliban — anyone that wants to engage in violence that we are prepared for the long-term support of our friends in Afghanistan.”
But no one today would commit to what that means for U.S. troops in Afghanistan, whether they will have a longer role there in greater numbers.
When asked, Carter would not address repeat questions about what, if any changes Obama intends to make to the drawdown of the final 9,800 U.S. forces in Afghanistan, noting that the president is expected to address that on Tuesday at the White House.
Ghani likewise would not answer whether the security situation in Afghanistan would require that more of the 9,800 troops remain in the country past 2015. Based on current plans, the U.S. is to drawdown to 5,500 troops by the end of this year, and drawdown to its final residual force of about 1,000 by the end of 2016.
“The question on numbers is a decision for the president,” Ghani said.
The two countries also came to an agreement on several diplomatic and economic agreements that were to build on what the U.S. has described as a strengthening, more positive relationship with the Afghan government since Ghani took office six months ago.
The two governments also agreed to restart two forums used for strategic level security decisions, the Bilateral Commission and the Security Consultative Forum. Neither forum has taken place since at least 2013, and Kerry is expected to begin traveling for both during the year.
Two of the agreements were trade and finance related — Treasury Secretary Jack Lew signed an agreement with the Afghan minister of finance to provide technical assistance to assist the Afghan government to pursue fiscal and financial reforms.
The U.S. also has agreed to provide about $800 million to create a partnership to help Afghanistan develop trade channels.
