By Jack Detsch
The Obama Administration plans to keep bases in Kandahar and Jalalabad open through 2015 and beyond.
America’s pullout from Afghanistan, after 14 long years of battling insurgents, isn’t proceeding as quickly as the White House had anticipated. In a reversal, U.S. military bases in Kandahar and Jalalabad, where some of the fiercest fighting in the country has taken place, are likely to stay in service through the end of 2015, and potentially well into next year.
The news comes with President Ashraf Ghani deep into a crucial visit in Washington. On Monday, Ghani conferred with Secretary of State John Kerry, Defense Secretary Ashton Carter, and Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew at President Barack Obama’s retreat at Camp David. Carter promised to continue funding Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) into 2017. Ghani will speak with Obama at the White House on Tuesday before making an address to Congress Wednesday.
That warmth is uncharacteristic of the Obama Administration’s relationship with Kabul. U.S.-Afghan relations were fraught with trouble under Ghani’s predecessor, Hamid Karzai, who once implied that American troops in Afghanistan were colluding with the Taliban to cause trouble. The improved relationship has real consequences for the American mission: the White House announced Tuesday it will keep 9,800 troops in Afghanistan through the end of 2015.
Read the full story at The Diplomat