Home

(Reuters) – Officials from Afghanistan and the United States on Tuesday signed a long-delayed security agreement to allow American troops to stay in the country after the end of the year, filling a campaign promise by new President Ashraf Ghani.

National security adviser Hanif Atmar and U.S. Ambassador James Cunningham signed the bilateral security agreement in a televised ceremony at the presidential palace, one day after Ghani was inaugurated.

[…]

Under the agreement, 12,000 foreign military personnel are expected to stay after 2014, when the combat mission of Afghanistan’s U.S.-led NATO force ends.

The force is expected to be made up of 9,800 U.S. troops with the rest from other NATO members. They will train and assist Afghan security forces in the war against the Taliban and its radical Islamist allies.

http://in.reuters.com/article/2014/09/30/afghanistan-usa-signing-idINKCN0HP11N20140930

4 thoughts on “U.S. signs pact to keep troops in Afghanistan past 2014”

    • It just floors me how the American establishment is so blatantly and repeatedly disingenuous with their foreign policy rhetoric. In May, President Obama addressed his troops in Afghanistan:

      BAGRAM AIR FIELD, Afghanistan (AP) — On a surprise visit to Afghanistan, President Barack Obama pledged Sunday to bring America’s longest war to a “responsible end” by the close of the year. He promised a decision soon on keeping a small contingent of troops to help protect gains made over nearly 13 years of combat.

      He told troops at this sprawling military base that the war had reached a pivotal point, with Afghan forces assuming primary responsibility for their country’s security. By 2015, many of the 32,800 American forces now in Afghanistan will depart.

      “For many of you, this will be your last tour in Afghanistan,” Obama said as hundreds of U.S. troops inside an airplane hangar erupted in applause. “America’s war in Afghanistan will come to a responsible end.”

      10,000 doesn’t sound like a “small contingent” to me. That’s one-third of the current deployment.

      Like

      • The lying and the disingenuous nature of this type of sh*t just makes the whole mess so much more unpalatable. We will never leave Afghanistan completely. Just bloody admit it. When Julius Caesar decided he wanted to take over Gaul to spread the Roman empire, he didn’t lie about it. He just did it and he said I ain’t coming outta Gaul til it’s mine! Sucked for the Gauls, but they knew what was coming. America is an empire. Just f*ckin’ say it already. “We want our way and we are going to get it no matter what.” I’d respect that more than the make-pretend crap they continually tell us. “We have a cut-off date to pull out all of our troops.” Bullsh*t. Our leaders lying rats. We are a country that thrives on its military, but pretend we aren’t. It is what we’re about. Stop lying about it. Stop pretending. The world hates us all the more because of it.

        Like

Comments are closed.