The United States has ruled out any re-examination of its plan for a complete exit from Afghanistan by the end of 2016, when the last batches of the residual force of 10,800 non-combat troops would be back home.
In a comment following Afghan President Ashraf Ghani’s suggestion for a re-examination of the timetable for full withdrawal, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said: “We are now in a situation where the combat mission in Afghanistan for US military personnel has ended….The Afghans are now solely responsible for the security of their country.”
President Ghani, in an interview to CBS’ 60 Minutes aired on Sunday evening, mooted a flexible American approach, saying: “Deadlines concentrate the mind. But deadlines should not be dogmas….If both parties, or, in this case, multiple partners, have done their best to achieve the objectives and progress is very real, then there should be willingness to re-examine a deadline.”
When asked if he had conveyed his views to President Barack Obama, Ghani remarked: “President Obama knows me. We don’t need to tell each other.” Having concluded its combat role and pulling back most of its troops by the end of 2014, the US has left a residual force of 10,800 troops on a purely non-combat mission of training and assisting Afghan security forces.
The US plans to withdraw about 5,000 of these residual troops by the end of this year and the rest by the end of 2016, which will also coincide with the end of Obama’s White House tenure.