Obama may alter the drawdown but is still determined to end the Afghan war

WASHINGTON — Top U.S. officials have shown a willingness to adjust President Barack Obama’s plan for winding down the war in Afghanistan, allowing military commanders to delay troop departures and expanding combat authorities for forces remaining on the ground.

But there’s one thing they’ve made clear is not up for discussion: Obama will end the U.S. military mission entirely by the time he leaves office in January 2017.

Obama is expected to announce this week that he will keep as many as 5,000 more U.S. troops in Afghanistan over the next year than originally planned. The overall goal, though, hasn’t changed. The president is determined to leave office with fewer than 1,000 U.S. personnel in Afghanistan based at an office of security cooperation in Kabul.

“As a strategic matter, it remains the intent to continue the retrograde,” said Jeff Eggers, a senior adviser to the president on Afghanistan and Pakistan. “That’s the process that will continue.”

The president’s desire to end the longest war in American history says more about how he views his legacy than conditions on the ground in Afghanistan, which have continued to deteriorate with the diminished American footprint.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, who will be in Washington beginning Monday, has asked the president to delay the departure of the approximately 10,000 troops based in Afghanistan. The request is an acknowledgment of the increase in deaths among Afghan civilians and security forces in the last year.

“The president is pretty clear that he would like to end the war in Afghanistan,” said Richard Fontaine, president of the Center for a New American Security, a nonpartisan think tank. “The question is whether the war in Afghanistan is going to let him end it.”

For weeks, Obama’s top aides have been considering a military request to eliminate a year-end deadline for bringing the number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan to 5,500. The move would give Gen. John F. Campbell, the American commander there, more time to train Afghan forces following last year’s disputed Afghan elections, which disrupted the American-led training program. “The political crisis resulted in non-trivial delays to the advisory program,” Eggers said.

The delays would allow the United States to keep open two key regional bases in the east and south — the site of some of the heaviest fighting and casualties in recent years — through next year. “Without those bases, you lose your eyes and ears in the most contested areas of the country,” said retired Army Lt. Gen David Barno, a former top commander in Afghanistan.

U.S. attack planes and helicopters flying from the two bases in Kandahar and Jalalabad have provided critical firepower to help Afghan army and police forces withstand large-scale Taliban attacks. “That’s a big hammer in our toolbox,” Barno said.

It would not be the first time the White House has deviated from the plan Obama announced in May 2014 for bringing the war “to a responsible end.” In December, facing a shortfall in NATO troop contributions, officials announced they would delay a deadline for reducing the U.S. force to 9,800. Last fall, Obama expanded some authorities for U.S. troops following the end to the NATO combat mission.

Today, the Afghanistan war, despite increasing levels of violence, is largely invisible to the U.S. public. American casualties have plummeted in recent months as U.S. trainers have largely retreated to fortified bases. Only highly trained American counterterrorism forces venture out with any regularity.

The volatile and contentious relationship that Obama had with Hamid Karzai, who frequently blamed the United States for the growing violence, has given way to a quiet partnership with Ghani, his successor. “This is a different relationship,” said Eggers. “It is clearly cooperative and better.”

Obama probably wouldn’t pay a price politically for keeping the current level U.S. troops in the country through the remainder of his presidency. His imperative to withdraw from Afghanistan seems to be a personal one.

“There’s a moral responsibility for removing Americans from harm’s way, and there’s also just the recognition that you have to define an end at some point,” said a senior White House official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the matter on the record. “In places like Afghanistan, Yemen, Somalia, Iraq there’s not going to be an end where everything is stable and secure and there’s no violence and bad guys.”

The 2017 deadline raises the pressure on Ghani, who has backing from the West to combat corruption, improve ties with Pakistan and lay the groundwork for peace talks with the Taliban.

Ghani, though, faces massive challenges in holding an unsteady unity government together and in containing the ripple effects of the country’s faltering economy, which depends heavily on U.S. financial aid.

The Taliban meanwhile remains a potent opponent. While Afghan forces conduct operations against insurgents on their own, they lack high-tech intelligence tools and airpower. They struggle to keep troops supplied with weapons and military vehicles running. As the Taliban continued its attacks into the winter months, civilian casualties jumped 22 percent in 2014, while U.S. officials have described deaths among Afghan security forces as “unsustainable.”

Some Republicans, long opposed to any withdrawal timeline, are now pushing Obama to revisit his plan to bring the troop level to zero by 2017.

Sticking to the 2017 deadline “would invite the same disaster we have seen in Iraq: a vacuum filled by instability and terror that would ultimately threaten the United States,” Republican Sens. John McCain (Ariz.) and Lindsey O. Graham (S.C.) said in a joint statement last week. “History will judge President Obama’s legacy not by the day we leave Afghanistan, but by what we leave behind.”

Others also point to the lessons of Iraq.

“If we pull out too quickly, there is a real risk Afghanistan will become insecure and will become a safe haven for transnational terrorist groups,” said Andrew Wilder, a scholar at the U.S. Institute of Peace and longtime Afghanistan expert.

Barno, the former Afghanistan commander, gave an even more dire prediction. “Within six months of 1/8the withdrawal3/8 it could be game over for the Afghans, especially if the American money doesn’t stay there, too,” Barno said.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Local News

Police Cmdr. Scott King answers questions about the Flock Safety license plate camera system on Thursday, June 5, 2025 in Mountlake Terrace, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Mountlake Terrace approves Flock camera system after public pushback

The council approved the $54,000 license plate camera system agreement by a vote of 5-2.

Cascadia College Earth and Environmental Sciences Professor Midori Sakura looks in the surrounding trees for wildlife at the North Creek Wetlands on Wednesday, June 4, 2025 in Bothell, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Cascadia College ecology students teach about the importance of wetlands

To wrap up the term, students took family and friends on a guided tour of the North Creek wetlands.

Community members gather for the dedication of the Oso Landslide Memorial following the ten-year remembrance of the slide on Friday, March 22, 2024, at the Oso Landslide Memorial in Oso, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
The Daily Herald garners 6 awards from regional journalism competition

The awards recognize the best in journalism from media outlets across Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington.

Edmonds Mayor Mike Rosen goes through an informational slideshow about the current budget situation in Edmonds during a roundtable event at the Edmonds Waterfront Center on Monday, April 7, 2025 in Edmonds, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Edmonds mayor recommends $19M levy lid lift for November

The city’s biennial budget assumed a $6 million levy lid lift. The final levy amount is up to the City Council.

A firefighting helicopter carries a bucket of water from a nearby river to the Bolt Creek Fire on Saturday, Sep. 10, 2022, on U.S. 2 near Index, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
How Snohomish County property owners can prepare for wildfire season

Clean your roofs, gutters and flammable material while completing a 5-foot-buffer around your house.

(City of Everett)
Everett’s possible new stadium has a possible price tag

City staff said a stadium could be built for $82 million, lower than previous estimates. Bonds and private investment would pay for most of it.

Jennifer Humelo, right, hugs Art Cass outside of Full Life Care Snohomish County on Wednesday, May 28, 2025 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
‘I’ll lose everything’: Snohomish County’s only adult day health center to close

Full Life Care in Everett, which supports adults with disabilities, will shut its doors July 19 due to state funding challenges.

Stolen car crashes into Everett Mexican restaurant

Contrary to social media rumors, unmarked police units had nothing to do with a raid by ICE agents.

Providence Regional Medical Center Everett. (Olivia Vanni/The Herald)
Providence Everett issues layoff notices to over 100 nursing assistants

The layoffs are part of a larger restructuring by Providence, affecting 600 positions across seven states, Providence announced Thursday.

Junelle Lewis, right, daughter Tamara Grigsby and son Jayden Hill sing “Lift Every Voice and Sing” during Monroe’s Juneteenth celebration on Saturday, June 18, 2022. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Where to celebrate Juneteenth in Snohomish County this year

Celebrations last from Saturday to Thursday, and span Lynnwood, Edmonds, Monroe and Mountlake Terrace.

Logo for news use featuring the municipality of Lake Stevens in Snohomish County, Washington. 220118
Judge rules in favor of sewer district in Lake Stevens dispute

The city cannot assume the district earlier than agreed to in 2005, a Snohomish County Superior Court judge ruled Tuesday.

Herald staff photo by Michael O'Leary 070807
DREAMLINER - The first Boeing 787 is swarmed by the crowd attending the roll out of the plane in on July 8, 2007 at the Boeing assembly facility in Everett.
Plane in Air India crash tragedy was built in Everett

The Boeing 787 Dreamliner in the crash that killed more than 200 people was shipped from Everett to Air India in 2014.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.