RT.
Ten thousand US troops will stay in Afghanistan past 2014, senior
officials say, despite earlier demands from President Barack Obama to
end the war during the second year of his upcoming term.
Most of the 66,000 or so troops currently positioned in Afghanistan
will be removed by President Obama’s predetermined deadline, sources
say, but a substantial amount of Americans will be asked to remain
indefinitely to conduct training and counterterrorism operations after
allied North Atlantic Treaty Organization troops are expunged in late
2014.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Gen. John Allen, the
top US commander overseeing the war in Afghanistan, proposed that
anywhere from 6,000 to 15,000 troops remain overseas following the end
of the current NATO operation occurring there. A number closer to 10,000
was established after top Obama administration officials reached a
compromise with the Pentagon, the paper reports.
However, the
claims have not been confirmed by the Obama administration, with White
House spokesman Jay Carney telling reporters Monday that the president
was still reviewing the proposal.
