1 of 7 | U.S President Barack Obama, right, shakes hands with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani after their joint press conference in the East Room of the White House in Washington, D.C., on March 24. Photo by Pat Benic/UPI |
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WASHINGTON, March 24 (UPI) -- Though complete U.S. troop withdrawal from Afghanistan is still on pace to take place at the end of 2016, President Barack Obama on Tuesday announced a change of plans to continue current troop numbers through 2015.
The original timetable involved reducing U.S. troops in Afghanistan to 5,500 by the end of 2015.
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, who met with Obama Tuesday at the White House, urged flexibility in that plan to allow more troops to remain in the country in a training capacity through the end of the year.
In a joint news conference, Obama announced that though U.S. forces will still complete their planned exit of all but 1,000 troops from Afghanistan at the end of his term, more troops will stay in country for now.
"I've decided we will maintain our current posture of 9,800 troops through the end of this year," Obama said. "The specific trajectory of the 2016 drawdown will be established later this year.
"This flexibility reflects our reinvigorated partnership with Afghanistan, which is aimed at making Afghanistan secure and preventing it from being used to launch terrorist attacks," Obama said.
Obama said the United States also intends to continue supporting Afghanistan's National Unity government "in its efforts to truly serve the Afghan people."
He emphasized a need for the government to seat a full cabinet, combat corruption and support democratic institutions.
"America will continue to be your partner in advancing the rights of all Afghans, including women and girls," Obama said.
Ghani thanked the president and U.S. troops and taxpayers for the years of support. He stressed the new government's emphasis on democracy and weeding out corruption.
"This unity is the reflection of the desire of the Afghan public to overcome the last 200 years of our political history where rarely public figures have chosen the country before themselves," he said. "We are committed in this regard to emulate the founding fathers and mothers of the United States where national interest will stand above personal or factional interest.
"The flexibility that has been provided for 2015 will be used to accelerate reforms to ensure that Afghan national security forces are much better led, equipped, trained and are focused on their fundamental mission," Ghani added.
"We are unique in that we have embraced democratic ways. We are very proud of our Islamic civilizations, but it is an Islam that is truly in dialogue with the rest of the world. We have the capacity to speak truth to terror ... they do not speak for Islam, we do."
Obama said Ghani is scheduled to speak before Congress on Wednesday.
Ghani met Monday with Defense Secretary Ashton Carter and Secretary of State John F. Kerry, expressing gratitude for American support.
"We do not now ask what the United States can do for us," he said. "We want to say what Afghanistan will do for itself and for the world. And that means we are going to put our house in order."