Obama considering plan to leave significant force in Afghanistan

[webfact]

Obama considering plan to leave significant force in Afghanistan
By Greg Jaffe and Missy Ryan
The Washington Post

WASHINGTON: -- President Obama is seriously weighing a proposal to keep as many as 5,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan beyond 2016, according to senior U.S. officials, a move that would end his plans to bring U.S. troops home before he leaves office.

The proposal presented in August by Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, then-chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, would focus the remaining American force primarily on counterterrorism operations against the Islamic State, al-Qaeda and other direct threats to the United States.

Obama has made no final decision on the plan, which was developed before the Taliban captured Kunduz in September; it was the first major city to fall to the Taliban since the war began in 2001.

Afghan security forces, supported by American planes and combat advisers, have since been able to retake most, if not all, of the city.

Full story: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/obama-considering-plan-to-leave-significant-force-in-afghanistan/2015/10/05/16842a9c-6b56-11e5-b31c-d80d62b53e28_story.html

-- The Washington Post 2015-10-06

[JetsetBkk]

Boots on the ground! Yay!

[connda]

Obviously he's not a student of history and seems to have overlooked the incursions into Afghanistan from Alexander the Great to the CCCP. Well, guess they need someone there to guard the poppy fields.