WASHINGTON - Even as their capacity has improved significantly, Afghan security forces are not there yet, US President Barack Obama said on Wednesday, justifying the need to keep a large number of troops in the country.
At an army town hall in Virginia, Obama said the dominant fighting force against the government in Afghanistan was the Taliban, who were not only not affiliated with Islamic State, but in some cases fought against the group for the control of territory.
“The key thing that we're doing in Afghanistan is twofold, one, is continuing to train, assist, support and build up capacity for the Afghan security forces. They're still fighting the Taliban. And they're not where they need to be as a fighting force yet…” Obama said.
“This is why I have maintained a certain troop level there until I feel confident that they can walk and then ultimately run. But they're not quite there yet. It’s important for us to maintain that support and to continue to get other countries working with us as part of the coalition to provide them support,” he argued
The United States was going to be maintaining a counter-terrorism platform in Afghanistan, because he did not want Daesh or Al Qaeda or coming back and creating a foothold from whereby they could attack the homeland.
Obama said both in Afghanistan and Iraq the two governments had to work to eliminate corruption and treat different ethnic and religious groups equally.
Afghan and Iraq governments had to be responsive to their people, and they had to work to eliminate corruption, the president stressed, calling for equal treatment of all ethnic groups and education for all children. (Pajhwok)