McCain Praises Obama’s Decision To Keep Troops In Afganistan

Senator John McCain, Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, released a statement on Thursday praising President Obama’s decision to keep U.S. troops in Afghanistan beyond 2016. McCain also expressed concern that the President “number of troops will not be sufficient to perform the critical tasks being set for them: counter-terrorism and continuing to train and advise our Afghan partners.”

McCain said he found it “highly unlikely that a force level of 5,500 troops was recommended as the best professional judgment of our senior military leaders and commanders on the ground in Afghanistan. The bottom line is that 5,500 troops will only be adequate to conduct either the counter-terrorism or the train and advise mission, but not both. Our military commanders have said that both are critical to prevent Afghanistan from spiraling into chaos.”

Obama intends to keep the current force of 9,800 troops in Afghanistan through most of next year. He then plans to draw down to 5,500 troops in 2017.

“While America’s combat mission in Afghanistan may be over, our commitment to Afghanistan and its people endures,” Obama said at the White House, in announcing his decision.

“At a time when the security situation in key parts of Afghanistan is deteriorating and ISIL is seeking to make in-roads there, it makes no military sense to withdraw U.S. forces. Once again, President Obama is putting our mission in Afghanistan, as well as our men and women serving there, at greater risk, and he is doing so for the sake of a troop reduction that has no political benefit, but could have significant military implications,” continued McCain.

“All of us want the war in Afghanistan to be over, but after 14 years of hard-fought gains, the decisions we make now will determine whether our progress will endure and our sacrifices will not have been in vain. When the stakes are so high, it is hard to understand why the President has again chosen to force our military to shoulder a higher level of risk to be successful.” McCain concluded, “It would have been far better to halt all further troop withdrawals and allow President Obama’s successor to determine what is warranted based on conditions on the ground.”

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