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Afghan security forces conduct a search operation for suspected Taliban militants and weapons in Nangarhar province on Oct. 14, 2015.(Photo: Ghulamullah Habibi, European Pressphoto Agency)
President <span style="color: Red;">*</span>Obama's<span style="color: Red;">*</span>decision to delay a full<span style="color: Red;">*</span>military withdrawal from Afghanistan prolongs a<span style="color: Red;">*</span>U.S. presence in a risky conflict where victory over a determined insurgency remains elusive.
On a personal level, it<span style="color: Red;">*</span>means Obama<span style="color: Red;">*</span>will<span style="color: Red;">*</span>fall<span style="color: Red;">*</span>short of his goal of decisively ending America’s longest war by the end of his presidency. His<span style="color: Red;">*</span>change in policy reflects cold realities: Afghanistan’s military still needs considerable help, Taliban insurgents remain a threat and the Islamic State is emerging as a new danger in the country.
"Afghan forces are still not as strong as they need to be," Obama said in announcing the policy shift Thursday at the White House.
Obama said<span style="color: Red;">*</span>he would keep about 5,500 U.S. troops in Afghanistan through 2017, a reversal of an earlier plan to remove nearly all troops by the end of 2016. The 9,800 U.S. troops currently in Afghanistan will remain through most of next year.
The mission will remain the same:<span style="color: Red;">*</span>supporting Afghanistan’s security forces and maintaining <span style="color: Red;">*</span>a counter-terrorism mission aimed at al-Qaeda militants and their affiliates.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>But growing Taliban strength in parts of the country increases the risk that American forces will get drawn deeper into conflict.
The Taliban recently seized the northern city of Kunduz before being pushed out by Afghan forces backed by American airstrikes and U.S. advisers. It was the radical Islamic group's first capture of a major city since it was ousted from governing the country by U.S.-led forces in 2001.
Taliban forces have expanded their influence in other parts of the country, as well, threatening to seize towns and villages.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>"Taliban advances in parts of the country underscore the reality that this is and remains a difficult fight," Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said.
The U.S. will likely get pulled into more battles as the Taliban challenge Afghan security forces in other major cities, said Seth Jones, an analyst at RAND Corp.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>"That is one way I think U.S.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>forces are likely to be used," he said.
That's the kind of "mission creep" Obama wants to avoid —<span style="color: Red;">*</span>the slow expansion of U.S. involvement in the<span style="color: Red;">*</span>war. On Thursday, he stressed<span style="color: Red;">*</span>several times that U.S. forces would be limited to two "narrow" missions, counter-terrorism and guiding their security forces.
USA TODAY
Obama: 5,500 troops to stay in Afghanistan
The additional American troops will allow the United States to maintain a presence on regional bases outside of the capital, Kabul, allowing them to remain closer to Afghan<span style="color: Red;">*</span>security forces.
Without regular U.S. air support, however, the Afghan force of 350,000 police and soldiers<span style="color: Red;">*</span>is<span style="color: Red;">*</span>struggling to secure<span style="color: Red;">*</span>the country.?<span style="color: Red;">*</span>U.S. airstrikes generally are<span style="color: Red;">*</span>used only to protect coalition forces or the stability of the Afghan government.
U.S. officials avoid drawing comparisons with Iraq, but clearly the rapid decline in security that followed the American withdrawal from Iraq in 2011 helped shaped the White House decision.
Sectarian tensions rose in Iraq in the wake of the U.S. withdrawal, and last year, the Islamic State seized large swathes of Iraqi territory. Obama<span style="color: Red;">*</span>sent<span style="color: Red;">*</span>several thousand troops back into Iraq to help rebuild its armed forces, and <span style="color: Red;">*</span>the military has launched daily airstrikes. Even<span style="color: Red;">*</span>so, the Islamic State remains entrenched in the country.
At the time of the troop withdrawal from Iraq, which candidate Obama had promised to do, the White House said then Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki wouldn't<span style="color: Red;">*</span>provide the legal protections necessary for a continued American presence.
In Afghanistan, the United States has a strong partner in the country’s new president, Ashraf Ghani, and its chief executive, Abdullah Abdullah. Both have expressed a desire for<span style="color: Red;">*</span>a continued American presence in the country.
Obama is counting on that close relationship to produce a better outcome in Afghanistan than in Iraq.
"In the Afghan government we have a serious partner who wants our help," Obama said.
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