Explaining his decision to halt U.S. troop withdrawals from Afghanistan until the end of this year, President Obama said it was important to keep American soldiers a bit longer in-country “so we don’t have to go back” in the future.
After being asked by Afghan President Ashraf Ghani to delay plans to draw down America’s 9,800 soldiers to 5,500 by the end of 2015, President Obama told reporters on Tuesday that he has agreed to that request.
“We want to make sure that we’re doing everything we can to help the Afghan security forces succeed, so we don’t have to go back,” Obama explained. “So we don’t have to respond in an emergency because terrorist activities are being launched out of Afghanistan.”
“We’re on the path to do that,” he continued. ”And it was my assessment, as commander-in-chief, that it made sense for us to provide a few extra months for us to be able to help.”
The White House now plans to start drawing down the remaining 9,800 troops sometime next year, with all U.S. soldiers outside of American embassy in Kabul withdrawn from the country by the end of 2016.
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