Officials: US to keep higher level of troops in Afghanistan

[DonViejo]

Source: ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration is abandoning plans to cut the number of U.S. forces in Afghanistan to 5,500 by year’s end, bowing to military leaders who want to keep more troops, including many into the 2016 fighting season, U.S. officials say.

While no final decision on numbers has been made, the officials said the administration is poised to slow withdrawal plans and probably will allow many of the 9,800 American troops to remain well into next year.

There also are discussions about keeping a steady number of counterterrorism troops into 2015, including options under which some would remain in the country or be nearby beyond 2016.

Currently, about 2,000 U.S. troops are conducting counterterrorism missions, and military leaders have argued that they will need to continue pursuing the remnants of al-Qaida and to monitor Islamic State militants looking to recruit in Afghanistan.

-snip-

Read more: http://www.salon.com/2015/03/14/officials_us_to_keep_higher_level_of_troops_in_afghanistan/

[marmar]

1. As Orwell said .............

[font size="4"]The war is not meant to be won, it is meant to be continuous. Hierarchical society is only possible on the basis of poverty and ignorance. This new version is the past and no different past can ever have existed. In principle the war effort is always planned to keep society on the brink of starvation. The war is waged by the ruling group against its own subjects and its object is not the victory over either Eurasia or East Asia, but to keep the very structure of society intact.[/font]

[KoKo]

2. Indeed....sadly. n/t

[AngryDem001]

3. The ME needs to sort it's own shit out.

Yes, the Bushies kicked over the hornet's nest. But at what point do you say, "OK. We've done enough. We've learned that the situation in the ME is intractable militarily."

When do we get to that point?

[Populist_Prole]

4. What; as a "peace offer" to chickenhawk conservatives? n/t

[OnyxCollie]

5. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!