NATO to keep staying in Afghanistan after 2017

The NATO alliance agreed on Wednesday to hold onto its broad geographic layout of bases in Afghanistan, a move that could make it easier for the United States to keep more troops there as Kabul struggles with a resurgent Taliban threat.

President Barack Obama has planned to slash the number of U.S. forces in Afghanistan from about 9,800 to 5,500 before he leaves office in 2017, despite calls from former commanders and envoys to halt the drawdown.

British Defense Secretary Michael Fallon said “Carter told us the troop numbers and the dispositions are being looked at again.”

Carters’ comments came as NATO allies agreed to extend the Afghanistan training mission and keep troops in all four sections of the country in 2017.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said the allies “will have what we call a flexible regional approach, meaning that we will continue to be of course in Kabul but also out in the different regions.”

The alliance also is “now working on the final decisions for our exact force numbers into 2017. So that’s something we will decide later on this year,” Stoltenberg said.

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NATO’s so-called hub-and-spoke model for troops training and advising Afghan forces extends well beyond the capital Kabul to allow an international military presence at regional hubs. But NATO policymakers had been examining whether it was possible to keep those posts open, even as force levels fall.

Obama granted U.S. forces in Afghanistan the ability to engage more with the resurgent Taliban last week, allowing them to now accompany conventional Afghan forces into the field, rather than only special operators, and proactively provide close air support to strike Taliban targets.

The White House said that the broader military authorities will not influence the drawdown plan.

Defense ministers of the 28 nations comprising NATO are set to meet to continue to the conversation and make final decisions on their presence in Afghanistan in Warsaw in early July.