'Harder To End Wars Than It Is To Begin Them': Obama Will Keep 9,800 US Troops In Afghanistan After December Despite State Of The Union Promise To Have All Troops Out By End Of This Year -- Daily Mail
* A senior White House official told reporters Tuesday that 'we want to maintain a counterterrorism ability ... we're going to train Afghan National Security Forces to help us in mitigating that threat'
* But Obama said Tuesday afternoon that in 2015 'Afghans will be fully responsible for securing their country' and the US will be limited to 'an advisory role'
* 'This year we will bring the war in Afghanistan to a responsible end,' he said
* The conference-call official said by the end of 2016 the US would have only an 'embassy presence with a security assistance office' – meaning Bagram Air Base could be closed or given to the Afghans
* Obama said in January's that only 'a small force' of Americans might stay behind, but nearly 10,000 U.S. military personnel will remain
* Originally the White House said they would help a few thousand NATO troops train Afghan fighters, and man 'counterterrorism operations to pursue any remnants of al-Qaeda'
* President Hamid Karzai has not signed a Bilateral Security Agreement that would keep U.S. personnel there while making them immune from Afghan law; both of his possible successors have said they will sign it
In a stunning admission Tuesday afternoon, a senior White House official told reporters on a conference call that part of the continuing U.S. mission in Afghanistan will involve training security forces in that country to 'help us' defeat al-Qaeda – not the other way around.
The White House has sought to assure the press that the U.S. role after 2014 would be reduced to what President Barack Obama called 'an advisory role' just an hour later.
But the official's statement, which drew no follow-up inquiry from the few reporters permitted to ask questions, indicates that American forces will take on a more substantial part of Afghanistan's coming security needs.
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