[From article]
In the end, President Obama was forced to listen to his generals — not his political instincts — on Afghanistan troop levels, and he decided to split the difference.
Mr. Obama is keeping 5,500 troops in Afghanistan beyond his presidency, about half the strength recommended by his top general in-country. It marks the sixth time he has rejected the advice of a ground commander on the force size in the long Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Military experts call that streak unprecedented for a commander in chief.
[. . .]
The president had wanted to deliver a speech saying that all American troops were out of Afghanistan at the end of next year, as he did in 2011 for the U.S. withdrawal from Iraq. But he was swayed by the dark picture of the Afghan conflict that the top brass has been drawing for him, and now Mr. Obama will pass the war onto the next president in 2017.
The battlefield facts delivered to the White House by Army Gen. John Campbell, the top NATO commander in Afghanistan, and other generals:
The Taliban mounted a ferocious offensive in the 2015 “fighting season” that took a heavy casualty toll on the shaky Afghan National Security Forces.
[. . .]
“The security situation in Afghanistan is so far from stable that to pull out all the troops, even for this president, doesn’t make any sense,” said retired Army Gen. John Keane, who devised the 2007 Iraq troop surge and has advised Afghan commanders in the past.
Mr. Keane, whose guidance is sought by Congress, said Gen. Campbell wanted to retain the current force of 9,800, but Mr. Obama “cut that in half.”
“He still does not listen to his combat field general, who wanted the current force to remain as is,” Mr. Keane said. “Quite unprecedented, this is the sixth time President Obama has not listened to a field commander recommendation on force levels for troops in combat.”
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/oct/15/obama-ignores-generals-on-troop-levels-for-unprece/
Obama ignores generals’ advice on troop levels for unprecedented sixth time
By Rowan Scarborough
The Washington Times
Thursday, October 15, 2015
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