U.S. Will Complete Afghan Pullout by End of 2016, Obama Says
By MARK LANDLER
MAY 27, 2014, WashPost
WASHINGTON — President Obama announced plans Tuesday to withdraw all combat troops from Afghanistan by the end of 2016, a rapid drawdown that will end more than a decade of American military engagement in the country where the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks were incubated.
Under the plan, which Mr. Obama outlined in the Rose Garden, the United States would leave 9,800 troops in Afghanistan after 2014, but reduce that number by roughly half in 2015, according to the official. By the end of 2016, the United States would be down to “a normal embassy presence with a security assistance office in Kabul,” similar to what now remains in Iraq.
All of these deployments hinge on the United States’ signing a security agreement with Afghanistan, which the administration has not yet been able to do.
“We will only sustain a military presence after 2014 if the Afghan government signs the Bilateral Security Agreement,” an administration official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity ahead of the announcement. “Both Afghan presidential candidates recently reiterated their intentions to sign the agreement quickly if elected.”
(More here.)
MAY 27, 2014, WashPost
WASHINGTON — President Obama announced plans Tuesday to withdraw all combat troops from Afghanistan by the end of 2016, a rapid drawdown that will end more than a decade of American military engagement in the country where the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks were incubated.
Under the plan, which Mr. Obama outlined in the Rose Garden, the United States would leave 9,800 troops in Afghanistan after 2014, but reduce that number by roughly half in 2015, according to the official. By the end of 2016, the United States would be down to “a normal embassy presence with a security assistance office in Kabul,” similar to what now remains in Iraq.
All of these deployments hinge on the United States’ signing a security agreement with Afghanistan, which the administration has not yet been able to do.
“We will only sustain a military presence after 2014 if the Afghan government signs the Bilateral Security Agreement,” an administration official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity ahead of the announcement. “Both Afghan presidential candidates recently reiterated their intentions to sign the agreement quickly if elected.”
(More here.)
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