![\"Ghani](\"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/Ghani-at-Tomb-of-the-Unknowns-300x200.jpg\")
<\/a><\/center><\/p>\nWhen the White House planned the withdrawal from Afghanistan, they intended for there to be only 5500 troops still there at the end of this year, down from the ten thousand there currently. There has been speculation in the last several weeks that they were planning to slow the withdrawal because of deteriorating security conditions there. Well, they announced the plan yesterday according to Fox News<\/a>; <\/p>\n Obama stressed that the “specific trajectory” of the drawdown for 2016 will be established later this year — and he still wants to stick to the plan of reducing the force to a “Kabul-based embassy presence” by the time he leaves office. “That hasn’t changed,” Obama said on Tuesday. <\/p>\n The pace of the U.S. troop drawdown was the focus of daylong White House meetings, and the centerpiece of [Afghan President Ashraf] Ghani’s highly anticipated visit to the U.S. <\/p>\n […]<\/p>\n For Obama, Ghani represents the last, best hope to make good on the president’s promise to end America’s longest war by the time he leaves office, keeping just a thousand or so troops at the embassy to coordinate security. <\/p>\n […] <\/p>\n Ghani’s government asked the president to keep more U.S. troops in his country for longer, as Afghan forces brace for a tough spring fighting season and contend with Islamic State fighters looking to recruit on their soil. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n