U.S. President Barack Obama announced Tuesday to maintain nearly 10 thousand U.S. troops in the war-torn Afghanistan through the end of this year.
"President Ghani has requested some flexibility on our draw down timeline, I've consulted with General Campbell in Afghanistan, my national security team and I've decided we will maintain our current posture of 9,800 troops through the end of this year."
The delay came after the meeting between Obama and the visiting Afghan President Ashraf Ghani. Our Washington chief correspondent Xiaohong has more.
Obama: No Drawdown of U.S. Troops in Afghanistan This Year
In announcing the major policy change, President Obama says, the combat mission of U.S. troops in Afghanistan is completed. However, the war-torn country remains a dangerous place.
"This flexibility reflects our reinvigorated partnership with Afghanistan, which is aimed at making Afghanistan secure and preventing it from being used to launch terrorist attacks."
Obama added that draw down of U.S. troops in 2016 will be discussed between the two countries later this year. He stressed that the end of the withdrawal timeline has not changed. By the end of 2016, there will only be a small force remain to safeguard the U.S. Embassy in Kabul.
There is a growing concern in Washington that Afghanistan may become a repeat of Iraq where the local army collapsed in the face of an ISIL onslaught last year.
Visiting Afghan President Ghani said his national unity government would not let this happen.
"We will not have peace with those who use our territory as a proxy for other purposes as a battle ground for alien forces, or as a launching pad for global terrorism."
In addition to maintain its current military posture in Afghanistan, the U.S. government has also pledged to ask Congress for funds to support Afghan security forces at a peak level of 352,000 through 2017.
Secretary of State John Kerry on Monday promised to provide up to 800 million dollars in U.S. aid to promote Afghan's self-reliance.
Xiaohong, CRI, Washington DC.
