Eight years ago, while running for his first term in office, President Obama pledged to withdraw all troops from Afghanistan.
It’s another campaign pledge he will fail to fully follow through on.
While Obama has pulled about 90 percent of U.S. forces stationed in Afghanistan out of the country, several thousand troops still remain in the country. His plan for this year called for a “draw down” to about 5,500 by the time his time in office is over; that’s a little more than half of the remaining forces.
Instead, only a few hundred will leave as the U.S. is now projected to keep about 8,400 soldiers in Afghanistan at the end of Obama’s second term in office. The reason given for the slowdown in withdrawal has been attributed to the “precarious” security situation there.
“Even as they improve, Afghanistan’s security forces are not as strong as they need to be,” Obama said. “With our help, they are improving critical capabilities, such as intelligence, logistics, aviation, and command and control. At the same time, the Taliban remains a threat.”
Due to the Taliban threat, suicide bombings continue in Afghanistan, and many civilian refugees have been displaced by the fighting. He said the decision to slow the drawing down of forces was recommended by military leaders, including commanders on the ground.
The president said current U.S. forces in Afghanistan are engaged in a two-prong mission: training and advising Afghan forces, and supporting counterterrorism operations against the remnants of al Qaeda and other groups, including ISIS. Meanwhile, Afghan forces now control all of the major population centers, the main transit routes, and most of the districts and have shown success in repelling Taliban attacks.
See his entire speech below. Advance to the 26:50 mark to see the beginning of his remarks.
Obama is unlikely to get too many complaints from Republicans, many of whom have urged the president not to remove forces from Afghanistan out of fear it would once again become a haven for Islamic terror groups. GOP legislators have often called his 2011 decision to completely withdraw from Iraq a mistake that lead to the rise of ISIS.
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