Obama To Keep Troops In Afghanistan After 2017

President Barack Obama has announced the US will keep 5,500 troops in Afghanistan after he leaves office in 2017.

He had originally planned to pull out of the country by the end of next year, leaving just a small military presence at the US embassy.

But at the White House, Mr Obama said the current force of 9,800 troops will be maintained through most of next year with the job of training Afghan security forces and going after al Qaeda.

The number will then be reduced to 5,500 troops in 2017, at a pace still to be determined by commanders.

Mr Obama said he does "not support the idea of endless war" after 14 years in the country.

But he said he was "firmly convinced we should make this extra effort" to help take on a resurgent Taliban.

"In key areas of the country," he said, "the security situation is still very fragile, and in some areas, there is risk of deterioration."

"I do not send you into harm's way lightly," Mr Obama told US troops. "I believe this mission is vital."

He has apparently been reconsidering his position on Afghanistan for some time because of the growing levels of violence.

Taliban fighters briefly took control of the key northern city of Kunduz late last month.

It led to a protracted battle with Afghan forces on the ground, supported by US airstrikes.

During the fighting a US airstrike hit a hospital run by Medecins Sans Frontieres , killing 12 staff and 10 patients.

The Associated Press reported on Thursday that US special ops analysts knew the Doctors without Borders facility was a hospital.

But they suspected it was being used by a Pakistani operative to co-ordinate Taliban activity, according to the report.

The troops staying in Afghanistan beyond next year will be based in Kabul and Bagram Air Field, as well as bases in Jalalabad and Kandahar.

The president's decision thrusts the conflict into the 2016 race for the White House.

Mr Obama campaigned for the White House on a pledge to end America's involvement in the two wars he inherited, Iraq and Afghanistan.

He did withdraw all US troops from Iraq in late 2011, a moment he heralded as a promise kept to a war-weary nation.

But following the rise of Islamic State, US forces returned to the country last year to train and assist local security forces and launch airstrikes.