US Expects North Atlantic Treaty Organisation Allies To Keep More Troops In Afghanistan

The action marks a reversal from his plan to draw down US troops to a force of 1,000 that would be based at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul.

Only a swift response by US-trained Afghan security forces led to an eventual Taliban retreat. The top US commander in the country, Gen. John Campbell, recently presented Obama with a range of options calling for keeping more troops there, based on his judgment of what it would take to sustain the Afghan army and minimize the chances of losing more ground.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani welcomed the decision, saying in a statement that it followed "several months of continued talks between the two presidents". They hoped Washington and the Pentagon would go beyond their "train, advise, and assist" role and equip Afghan forces with the sophisticated high tech arsenal used by US armed forces.

Carter said the U.S.is intent on fostering stability in Afghanistan over the long term and will not give up gains that USA forces have fought so hard to achieve there.

The White House said Thursday that the U.S.is not now "in a combat role" in Afghanistan. The almost 10,000 US troops there can probably enable the government to hold onto Kabul, the capital, and perhaps Bagram, Jalalabad and Kandahar.

Although Afghan forces, backed by USA airstrikes, drove the militants out of Kunduz this week, the Taliban's ability to successfully strike a major city convinced administration officials that a wholesale withdrawal of US forces would risk an all-out collapse of Afghan security forces. "As you are all well aware, I do not support the idea of endless war".

The president's decision to keep the US military in Afghanistan beyond his tenure thrusts the conflict into the 2016 presidential race.

Overseeing the end of USA military operations in Afghanistan has been one of President Barack Obama's prized political goals.

He described the policy shift as "the right thing to do", adding that the ending of North Atlantic Treaty Organisation combat operations in December past year had come at a price, with many Afghan troops and civilians killed since the Taliban stepped up its insurgency.

It is another setback for the president in his quest to extricate the US from more than a decade of war in Afghanistan and Iraq.

"I suspect that we will continue to evaluate this going forward, as will the next president", Mr Obama said.

Obama has apparently recognized the reality of the situation in Afghanistan, and should be commended for acting upon that reality rather than pulling out the troops on a few purely ideological or philosophical basis. In his speech, Obama noted that "every single day, Afghan forces are out there fighting and dying to protect their country", and that a new national unity government is tackling corruption and strengthening civil society.