KABUL — The United States will keep about 1,000 more service members in Afghanistan than planned early next year to fill a temporary NATO troop gap in the new mission to train and advise Afghan security forces, U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said Saturday on his final visit to this country as Pentagon chief.
At a news conference with President Ashraf Ghani, Hagel said the original plan to cut U.S. troop levels to 9,800 by the end of 2014 had been abandoned but not because of a recent surge in Taliban attacks.
Hagel said the U.S. will keep up to 10,800 service members for the first few months of 2015 and then restart the drawdown, which is scheduled to reach 5,500 service members by the end of next year.
The U.S. decided to keep additional forces in the country temporarily because planned troop commitments by U.S. allies for a NATO train-and-assist mission starting in January have been slow to materialize.
Gen. John Campbell, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, told reporters later Saturday that he is confident NATO members will furnish the necessary troops for the new training mission, which begins Jan. 1. It’s just going to take a few extra weeks or months to get them in Afghanistan, he said.
Campbell, who took over Aug. 26 and has served two previous tours in Afghanistan, spoke glowingly of the new government led by Ghani and CEO Abdullah Abdullah.
“It’s like a night and day difference dealing with this government” compared with the previous government led by Hamid Karzai, who was often publicly critical of U.S. military efforts against the Taliban insurgency, Campbell said.
Campbell said the morale and confidence of Afghan forces have been boosted by Ghani’s enthusiastic embrace of their efforts and sacrifices.
