In his brief speech, Obama acknowledged the “security situation in Afghanistan remains precarious” and said Afghan security forces were “still not as strong as they need to be”. Barack Obama has delayed his planned troop withdrawal in Afghanistan, meaning there will now be 8,400 US forces in the country when he leaves office in January. “I welcome President Obama’s decision to reverse his previous plan to drawdown US forces in Afghanistan,” said the hawkish senator John McCain in a statement. In a surprise White House statement on Wednesday, Obama warned that a “precarious” security situation in Afghanistan could yet provide support to terrorists some 15 years after the September 11 attacks that first led to western military intervention. “That said, when the President himself describes the security situation in Afghanistan as ‘precarious,’ it is difficult to discern any strategic rationale for withdrawing 1,400 US troops by the end of the year.”Additional reporting by Spencer Ackerman

Source: The Guardian July 06, 2016 15:59 UTC