US President Barack Obama announced that thousands of US troops will remain in Afghanistan next year, retreating from a major campaign pledge as he admitted Afghan forces are not ready to stand alone.
Calling his decision on Thursday to keep a 9,800-strong US force in Afghanistan through much of next year “the right thing to do,” Obama said. “Afghan forces are still not as strong as they need to be.”
“As commander in chief, I will not allow Afghanistan to be used as a safe haven for terrorists to attack our nation again,” he said.
Photo: Reuters
Coming to office in 2009, Obama had pledged to end the war in Iraq and the one in Afghanistan, which has now cost more than 2,000 US lives and wounded and maimed tens of thousands.
More than six years on, thousands of troops remain in both countries.
Obama’s repeated promises to end the US’ “longest war” have again been thwarted by a dogged Taliban insurgency and Afghan forces slow to be effective.
Addressing battle-weary troops who might now be forced to return for another tour of duty, Obama said they could “make a real difference” to stabilizing a strategic partner.
“I do not send you into harm’s way lightly,” he told them. “I do not support the idea of endless war and I have repeatedly argued against marching into open-ended military conflicts that do not serve our core security interests.”
Separately, Russian President Vladimir Putin yesterday warned that violence in Afghanistan could spill over into ex-Soviet Central Asia.
“The situation there [in Afghanistan] is genuinely close to critical,” Putin said at a meeting of leaders from the ex-Soviet region in Kazakhstan.
“Terrorists of different stripes are gaining more influence and do not hide their plans for further expansion,” Putin told the summit of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).
“One of their aims is to break into the Central Asian region. It is important for us to be ready to react in concert to this scenario,” Putin said in a speech posted on the Kremlin’s Web site.
While Russia is warily eyeing the upsurge in fighting in Afghanistan, its main focus remains on Syria, where it is carrying out a bombing campaign to support Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Putin praised the more than two-week-old air campaign, saying that Russia’s strikes had “destroyed dozens of command posts, munitions depots, hundreds of terrorists and a large amount of military hardware.”
NO HUMAN ERROR: After the incident, the Coast Guard Administration said it would obtain uncrewed aerial vehicles and vessels to boost its detection capacity Authorities would improve border control to prevent unlawful entry into Taiwan’s waters and safeguard national security, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday after a Chinese man reached the nation’s coast on an inflatable boat, saying he “defected to freedom.” The man was found on a rubber boat when he was about to set foot on Taiwan at the estuary of Houkeng River (後坑溪) near Taiping Borough (太平) in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口), authorities said. The Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) northern branch said it received a report at 6:30am yesterday morning from the New Taipei City Fire Department about a
IN BEIJING’S FAVOR: A China Coast Guard spokesperson said that the Chinese maritime police would continue to carry out law enforcement activities in waters it claims The Philippines withdrew its coast guard vessel from a South China Sea shoal that has recently been at the center of tensions with Beijing. BRP Teresa Magbanua “was compelled to return to port” from Sabina Shoal (Xianbin Shoal, 仙濱暗沙) due to bad weather, depleted supplies and the need to evacuate personnel requiring medical care, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesman Jay Tarriela said yesterday in a post on X. The Philippine vessel “will be in tiptop shape to resume her mission” after it has been resupplied and repaired, Philippine Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, who heads the nation’s maritime council, said
CHINA POLICY: At the seventh US-EU Dialogue on China, the two sides issued strong support for Taiwan and condemned China’s actions in the South China Sea The US and EU issued a joint statement on Wednesday supporting Taiwan’s international participation, notably omitting the “one China” policy in a departure from previous similar statements, following high-level talks on China and the Indo-Pacific region. The statement also urged China to show restraint in the Taiwan Strait. US Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell and European External Action Service Secretary-General Stefano Sannino cochaired the seventh US-EU Dialogue on China and the sixth US-EU Indo-Pacific Consultations from Monday to Tuesday. Since the Indo-Pacific consultations were launched in 2021, references to the “one China” policy have appeared in every statement apart from the
More than 500 people on Saturday marched in New York in support of Taiwan’s entry to the UN, significantly more people than previous years. The march, coinciding with the ongoing 79th session of the UN General Assembly, comes close on the heels of growing international discourse regarding the meaning of UN Resolution 2758. Resolution 2758, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1971, recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the “only lawful representative of China.” It resulted in the Republic of China (ROC) losing its seat at the UN to the PRC. Taiwan has since been excluded from
RSS