WASHINGTON – In a potential major shift in policy, U.S. military commanders want to keep at least a few thousand American troops in Afghanistan beyond 2016.
Keeping any substantial number of troops in Afghanistan beyond next year would mark a sharp departure from President Barack Obama’s existing plan, which calls for only an embassy-based security cooperation presence of about 1,000 military personnel by the end of next year.
About 9,800 U.S. troops are in Afghanistan. Stars and Stripes reports that the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, Army Gen. John F. Campbell, has given the administration several options for gradually reducing that number over the next 15-months. The options all call for keeping a higher-than-planned troop presence.