Thread: Officials: US to Keep More Troops in Afghanistan Into 2016

WASHINGTON —
The Obama administration is abandoning plans to cut the number of U.S. forces in Afghanistan to 5,500 by year's end, bowing to military leaders who want to keep more troops there, including many into the 2016 fighting season, U.S. officials said.

While no final decision on numbers has been made, the officials said the administration is poised to slow withdrawal plans and probably will allow many of the 9,800 American troops to remain well into next year.

There also are discussions about keeping a steady number of counterterrorism troops into 2015, including options under which some would remain in the country or be nearby beyond 2016.

Currently, about 2,000 U.S. troops are conducting counterterrorism missions, and military leaders have argued that they will need to continue pursuing the remnants of al-Qaida and to monitor Islamic State militants looking to recruit in Afghanistan.

More here: Officials: US to Keep More Troops in Afghanistan Into 2016

So there's gonna be more opium grown, protected by US, then harvested and traded, crops/yields increasing every year since US entered Afghanistan.

Purely for Medicinal use.

The empire will never cease.
Growing in it's wake.

Obama is such a pussy and should have told the military to GFY.

Why am I not surprised.

Originally Posted by ENT

So there's gonna be more opium grown, protected by US, then harvested and traded, crops/yields increasing every year since US entered Afghanistan.

Well obviously.

Not like the powers that be are interested in anything else produced by that mountainous in-conquerable dust bowl is it?

Originally Posted by Horatio Hornblower

Purely for Medicinal use.

Apparently not, according to US and Big Pharma.

Although global illicit heroin use has more than doubled since US/coalition forces took over after Taliban stopped the O trade.

Still, USA guards and facilitates O production there, I doubt that they do that for nothing.

Got to protect the opium growth for the next few years. The US and UK has used opium as a method to generate funds for centuries and still do in their total control of the worlds drug money.