“I’ve decided to maintain our current posture of 9,800 troops in Afghanistan through most of next year 2016,” Obama said. “Their mission will not change.”
The number of US servicemen in Afghanistan will then stand at around 5,500 at the end of 2016 or early 2017.
Washington will maintain 5,500 troops at a small number of Afghan bases including at Bagram, Jalalabad in the east, and Kandahar in the south after 2016, according to the president.
The latest decision by the United States to maintain 5,500 troops in Afghanistan beyond 2016 may be not the last adjustment to US mission in the country, US President Barack Obama noted.
“My approach is to assess the situation on the ground, figure out what is working, figure out what is not working, make adjustments where necessary. This is not the first time those adjustments have been made, <…> won’t probably be the last,” Obama stated.
The president added that the US troops in Afghanistan will train the Afghan forces and support counter terrorism operations in the country.
