U.S. stands by plan to pull troops from Afghanistan

From Reuters

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/01/06/us-afghanistan-usa-idUSKBN0KF [login to see] 6

U.S. stands by plan to pull troops from Afghanistan

(Reuters) - The United States on Monday stood by plans to halve the number of its troops in Afghanistan this year and reduce them further in 2016 following Afghan President Ashraf Ghani's suggestion that President Barack Obama review his deadline.

But Ghani's comment adds to a growing debate over whether the White House will stick to its plans, already amended twice, of cutting U.S. troops to about 5,000 by the end of this year and drawing down to a "normal" U.S. embassy presence in Kabul at the end of 2016.

Ghani may have also given political cover to Obama should the president decide he needs to renege on his withdrawal pledge to preserve shaky gains made over 13 years of war and to avoid a collapse of local forces that Iraq witnessed last year.

"My guess is that he probably will re-evaluate these decisions in due course," said James Dobbins, who was Obama's special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan until July.

[EDITORIAL COMMENT:- My guess is that the GOP will condemn President Obama if he DOES continue to draw down the number of American troops in Afghanistan while they will excoriate him if he DOES NOT continue to draw down the number of America troops in Afghanistan. On the other hand the "open mouth" shows will excoriate him if he DOES continue to draw down the number of America troops in Afghanistan but will condemn him if he DOES NOT continue to draw down the number of American troops in Afghanistan. This proves that there is no uniformity of thought between the GOP and the obnoxiously loud right-wing.]