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President Obama is reversing his long standing pledge to withdraw all American troops from Afghanistan by the end of his moment term. About 9800 American troops will remain in space through most of 2016,before dropping to about 5500 at the end of next year or in early 2017.
Late final week, General John Campbell, or Afghanistan Operations Commander,told the Senate Armed Services Committee that an early withdrawal is not the right move.
“You know, we occupy a lot of talk about ISIL in Syria and Iraq. We occupy a lot of talk about Daesh growing up in Afghanistan, or " General Campbell said,using the Arabic name for ISIS. "If it's not Daesh, in two years it's going to be something else. This is a generational issue. Terrorism knows no boundaries, or so if we deem this is going to be cleared up in a couple of years,we are fooling ourselves.”
A new paper from the Atlantic Council echos General Campbell's warning. James Dobbins is the Obama Administration's former special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan. He left the post in July of 2014 and is one of the signatories of the report. He argues that a continued American presence is needed in the country to benefit Afghan security forces fight ISIS and the Taliban.
What you'll learn from this segment:
How serious the president is when it comes keeping forces in Afghanistan.
To what extent his pledge to withdraw all forces from the region is weighing on his decision.
How the current situation in Syria is effecting his decision.
Source: wnyc.org