Posted on 10/15/2015 6:22:19 AM PDT by EBH
The United States will halt its military withdrawal from Afghanistan and instead keep thousands of troops in the country through the end of President Obama’s term in 2017, Mr. Obama will announce on Thursday, prolonging the American role in a war that has now stretched on for 14 years.
The current American force in Afghanistan of 9,800 troops will remain in place through most of 2016 under the Obama administration’s revised plans, before dropping to about 5,500 at the end of next year or in early 2017, senior administration officials said.
Some of the troops will continue to train and advise Afghan forces, while others will carry on the search for Qaeda fighters and militants from the Islamic State and other groups who have found a haven in Afghanistan, they said.
In abandoning his ambition to bring home almost all American troops before leaving office, Mr. Obama appears to be acknowledging that Afghan security forces are still not near ready to hold off the Taliban on their own.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
He was against it before he was for it.
My daughter has a friend in the military who was in Afghanistan. Last year he told her they had already been told they were going back in 2016. I think this was planned all along.
He knows Hillary is going to lose so he is leaving a poison pill for the next President.
Pretty clear how the Huffington Post feels about it:
“U.S. Staying In Afghanistan Through End Of 2017... Thousands Of Troops... Obama Handing Off Conflict To Successor... Previously Promised To End It In 2014... 14 Years Of War... UN: Taliban’s Reach Widest Since 2001... Afghanistan Not Mentioned In Dem Debate...”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/
calling code pink...oh that’s right, they only show up with president is republican.
When Kabul falls to the Taliban the 0bomb doesn’t want an untidy Saigon-style evacuation/retreat to happen on his watch.
That is precisely why it’s being done. He doesn’t care about securing Afghanistan. He cares about not being embarrassed by it collapsing on his watch. Even if it happens on January 21, 2017, it’ll allow his supporters to blame the next guy/Hillary.
Nobel Peace Prize winner extends war though his entire 8 years in office !
ROFL
Barely an Army brigade maybe just a couple battalions when you take out the count of SOF and AF. Not much for a country that size.
The truth is that the Taliban will be in country of Afghanistan ten days after we withdraw, no matter when.
Nothing is going to change that,
Congress should withhold all funds from the Afghanistan theater and force a withdrawal sooner.
Afghanistan is not worth one more American life.
It is a hellhole.
Sure why should they discuss it, they intend to continue to blame Bush.... Only way to halt this is for us to have a real leader that pushes back against the leftwinger media
WHAT?!?!?
According to all the news media, Obama ended that war! So, why do we still have troops FIGHTING there?!?! Hell, he “ended” that war before the 2012 elections!
What am I missing?!?
Where is code pink?
He's consumed by political image (and his love of Islam). He thought that by removing US presence from Afghanistan he'd get a 3-fer:
* Bringing the troops home, solving the Bush misadventure
* Weakening US leverage against the potential Caliphate that is forming
* Leaving any blowback as a mess to be blamed upon a future GOP administration
Now that it looks like a collapse would occur more rapidly and be blamed on him, he extends the mission. That's how I see it.
Totally in agreement with you.
For 98% of the idiots in this country this is a forgotten war, a non-issue and not something they even care about.
For less than 2% of us with son’s in the military it is a hellhole not worth risking our children.
Taliban has been there for ages and will be there long after we are gone. It is a feudal and barbaric mass of people not worthy of even being called a society.
Blood for oil? Poppies for blood!
Cameroon and now this? He’s not gonna get that second Nobel Peace Prize he had his heart set on now. Sniff! Sniff!
Pull out and nuke it from orbit.
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