U.S. ceremonially ends combat mission in Afghanistan

U.S. ceremonially ends combat mission in Afghanistan
(Image credit: Mark Wilson / Getty Images)

The United States and NATO on Sunday formally marked the end of the 13-year war in Afghanistan with a ceremony at a military base in Kabul.

Though the official mission will end at the close of the year, some 13,500 soldiers, most of them American, will remain behind as a peacekeeping and training force. All U.S. troops were originally scheduled to leave at the start of 2015, but with Afghanistan's security situation as tenuous as ever, the new Afghan government in October signed a deal to allow a residual foreign force to remain into next year.

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Jon Terbush

Jon Terbush is an associate editor at TheWeek.com covering politics, sports, and other things he finds interesting. He has previously written for Talking Points Memo, Raw Story, and Business Insider.