by Matthew Rusling
WASHINGTON, Aug. 24 (Xinhua) -- The United States could be in Afghanistan for years to come, after 16 years of presence in the war-torn country, U.S. experts said.
The fight in Afghanistan will probably be a "generation-long struggle," Michael O'Hanlon, a senior fellow on foreign policy at the Brookings Institution, told Xinhua, adding that Afghanistan is part of the long-term U.S. fight against extremism in the region.
The comments came after U.S. President Donald Trump outlined a new Afghanistan strategy earlier this week, which includes a modest troop increase there and less micromanagement by Washington of U.S. forces stationed in the South Asian nation.
The United States waged a "war on terror" in Afghanistan not long after the 9/11 attacks. The terror group al-Qaida, which masterminded the attacks, was given safe haven in Afghanistan.
While al-Qaida is now a shell of its former self, the Islamic State(IS), which took control of large swathes of land in Iraq and Syria, remains dangerous, having inspired radicals to carry out myriad attacks in Europe and the United States in recent years.
O'Hanlon said he believes the United States needs a number of assets in key parts of the Middle East, in order to wage the long-term war against extremism, adding that Afghanistan is a piece of the broader U.S. anti-terror war.
Read the full story at Xinhua