The Heritage Foundation Welcomes Afghan Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah

Tomorrow The Heritage Foundation will proudly host the Chief Executive Officer of Afghanistan, Dr. Abdullah Abdullah, for a talk on “The Way Forward in the U.S.–Afghanistan Security Partnership.”

Dr. Abdullah and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani are in Washington, DC, for an official visit, their first after forming a power-sharing government of national unity last fall.

A major topic of discussion for the Afghan leaders and their U.S. counterparts will be U.S. plans for maintaining a force presence in the country for training and advising the Afghan forces and conducting counterterrorism missions as necessary.

It is heartening that the White House has finally agreed to reconsider its timeline for withdrawing U.S. forces from the country. Last year, President Barack Obama declared he would cut the current level of U.S. troops in half to around 5,000 by the end of 2015 and then to zero by the end of 2016. However, last week U.S. officials indicated that the nearly 10,000 troops currently in the country will remain there at least through the next year.

The Heritage Foundation has long called on the Administration to plan its troop deployments in Afghanistan based on conditions on the ground, rather than on arbitrarily defined dates or domestic political timetables. Thus, the White House announcement is welcome news. But President Obama should go further. He should also scrap the 2016 deadline to pull out all U.S. troops.

The Afghan security forces are fighting strong against the Taliban and have not ceded any territory to the insurgents since taking the lead on security operations. They need our continued support and backstopping, and we also need access to the country to carry out counterterrorism operations.

The U.S. has forces stationed throughout the world to protect our vital national security interests. Why, then, is it so difficult for the White House to commit to a residual force presence in the country from which the 9/11 attacks were spawned?

Moreover, with the new unity government led by two competent and committed Afghan leaders, there is an increased chance the country will be able to solidify progress and overcome governance and corruption problems that plagued the previous Karzai administration.

Let’s give the new unity government a chance, stop talking about deadlines, and start talking about long-term engagement with the Afghans.