On Tuesday, President Obama held a press conference with Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani where he stated that the United States will leave troops in Afghanistan until the end of 2015.
Originally, the 9,800 U.S. troops were going to be pulled out of the country and about half of them were scheduled to arrive back home in the coming months. However, President Obama declared that the troops will remain for a few months longer by request of President Ghani.
"I've decided that we will maintain our current posture of 9,800 troops through the end of this year," said President Obama.
President Ghani is visiting the United States this week and spoke with the U.S. President before the press conference in the White House earlier today. The two leaders claimed to share the same democratic values, and President Obama lauded Afghanistan's first peaceful election and change of power in its history.
The government in Afghanistan has come a long ways from before, but still struggles against Taliban forces and other terrorist threats. President Ghani asked the U.S. to keep troops inside Afghanistan in order to help provide stability for democratic growth in light of growing terrorist threats such as ISIS.
Afghanistan wishes to be independent and self-governing with its own security forces, says Mr. Ghani, but it is currently in a vulnerable state because of the terrorist threats. The extension of U.S. troops will allow Afghanistan to solidify its own power and ability to counter terrorist threats while maintaining democracy. President Ghani thanked the U.S. troops for their service to the Afghani nation.
"Much binds us together, and the flexibility that has been provided for 2015 will be used to accelerate reforms to ensure that the Afghan security forces are much better led, equipped, trained, and are focused on their fundamental mission," said President Ghani at the press conference.
President Ghani has already visited the Pentagon and the White House this week, and plans to address Congress on Wednesday and the U.N. leaders on Thursday.
