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Obama intends to leave 9,800 US troops in Afghanistan after formal withdrawal

27 May 2014, 20:04 -- U.S. President Barack Obama will announce plans on Tuesday to seek to leave 9,800 US troops in Afghanistan after the formal troop drawdown at the end of this year, a senior administration official said. Obama's decision is largely in line with what military commanders have been seeking and would allow the president to fully end the American-led military effort by the time he leaves office. The two-year plan is contingent on the Afghan government signing a bilateral security agreement with America. While outgoing Afghan President Hamid Karzai has declined to sign the agreement, US officials are confident that either of the candidates seeking to replace him would give the approval needed.

The report of the new troop plan comes just one day after the President returned to Washington after a surprise Memorial Day visit to Afghanistan, when he promised all combat operations would be done by 2014.

The number emerged after Obama held talks with US military commanders at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan on Sunday as the United States winds down a war begun in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.

Obama was to make the announcement statement in the White House Rose Garden.

US officials are expressing increasing confidence that the next Afghan president will sign a bilateral security agreement that Obama wants before the United States will agree to leave behind troops to help train Afghan forces and conduct counter-terrorism operations.

Under the scenario envisioned by Obama, the 9,800 troops would stay for a year, then that number would be reduced by half by the end of 2015, the official said.

By the end of 2016, the U.S. presence would be cut to a normal embassy presence as has been done in Iraq, the official added.

The former commander of all forces in Afghanistan, Marine Gen. John Allen, had recommended more than 13,000 US troops remain there after this year. And ormer Defense Secretary Leon Panetta urged between 8,000 and 12,000.

Source: http://voiceofrussia.com/news/2014_05_27/ Obama-intends-to-leave-9-800-US-troops-in Afghanistan-affter-formal-withdrawal-0105/