Obama reportedly halting Afghanistan withdrawal, keeping 5,500 troops through 2017

On Thursday, President Obama will announce that he is dropping plans to withdraw all U.S. troops from Afghanistan by the end of his second term, a tacit acknowledgment that the Afghan security forces aren't able yet to fend off the Taliban and other Islamist insurgents. The U.S. currently has about 9,800 troops in Afghanistan as part of its NATO mission, and Obama will reportedly reduce that number only to about 5,500 by the end of 2016 or in early 2017. The U.S. forces will either be advising the Afghan military or hunting down al Qaeda and Islamic State militants.

A senior White House official tells The Wall Street Journal that the reversal follows "an extensive and months-long review," and other Obama administration officials said that at a NATO meeting last week, most of the member nations said they wanted more troops in Afghanistan, not fewer. Senior U.S. military commanders have also suggested publicly that conditions on the ground aren't adequate for the U.S. to withdraw as planned. The U.S. has been in Afghanistan since 2001.

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