U.S. troops in Afghanistan
President Barack Obama in October announced that thousands of US troops will remain in Afghanistan past 2016, backpedalling on previous plans to shrink the force and acknowledging that Afghan forces are not ready to stand alone.
The Taliban briefly captured the strategic northern city of Kunduz in September in their most spectacular victory in 14 years, dealing a stinging blow to Afghan forces as they battle the insurgents on multiple fronts.
The Taliban have since then threatened several other provincial centres -- from Lashkar Gah in the south to Maimana in the northwest -- fuelling concerns that Afghanistan was on the brink of a security collapse.
Obama said the United States will maintain its current force of 9,800 in the country through 2016.
After that, rather than go down to a normal embassy presence as had been planned, the United States will leave a force of 5,500 troops in place to train Afghan forces and conduct counter-terrorism missions. (AFP)
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