US to Slow Down Troop Withdrawal from Afghanistan as White House 'Rethinks' Mission

[Karmadillo]

Whew! Thank heavens the adults are in control. Leaving Afghanistan prematurely will result in US radicals arguing we now have the means for more social spending. Screw that. I say stay in Afghanistan forever if it diminishes wasteful expenditures on education, health care, and infrastructure. Who knows what radicals would have done with that $65 billion spent training Afghan forces if they could have gotten their paws on it? Keep the information classified for all I care. If the military is packing it into bales and tossing it into the Khyber Pass, it's better than what would have been done with it here.

http://www.commondreams.org/news/2015/02/21/us-slow-down-troop-withdrawal-afghanistan-white-house-rethinks-mission

The U.S. is slowing down its withdrawal from Afghanistan, despite long-held promises that the military would be out of the country by 2016, new Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said on Saturday.

Carter told reporters in Kabul that the Obama administration is "rethinking" its counter-terrorism mission in Afghanistan and that the U.S. military wants to ensure that "progress sticks" in the country after its withdrawal. In his first trip to Afghanistan since being sworn in as Pentagon chief, Carter said a new plan could change the original schedule, which would have seen the U.S. halving its troops this year and establishing a "normal" embassy presence by 2016.

Reuters reports:

<Carter's> remarks set the stage for talks next month when the Afghan president is expected in Washington.

"Our priority now is to make sure this progress sticks," Carter said at a joint conference with President Ashraf Ghani, hours after landing in Kabul.

.... Carter, who this week became Obama's fourth defense secretary, is a former Pentagon No. 2 with deep roots in U.S. policy on Afghanistan. He said Saturday marked his tenth official visit to the country, even though it was his first at the helm of the Department of Defense.

The news follows a series of developments in the military's involvement in Afghanistan. In January, it was revealed that military officials had classified information about how they were spending $65 billion appropriated since 2002 to train Afghan forces.

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