Afghan President Ashraf Ghani is White House-bound on Tuesday for a series of meetings, a working lunch, and a press conference with President Barack Obama, where U.S. troop withdrawal from Afghanistan are expected to be at the top of the agenda.
Ghani has requested that the U.S. consider adjusting its troop withdrawal timeline, with greater support from U.S. troops over the next few years during a transition to a complete withdrawal.
Currently, there are 9,800 U.S. troops providing training and support in Afghanistan, as well as 3,000 troops from other NATO countries. The Obama administration plans to reduce that number to about 5,500 by the end of this year before withdrawing completely by the end of 2016.
But Ghani has made clear to Obama in recent conversations that such a timeline could jeopardize the security situation on the ground as Afghan forces continue to fight back the Taliban and al Qaeda.
Asked whether the President will give a clear sense of the timetable on troop withdrawal, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest would not preview any specific announcements during Monday’s briefing.
“The question is how much flexibility is there in the drawdown between where we stand today and that end point in early 2017,” Earnest said.
“That will be the subject of some discussion with President Ghani, and President Ghani has indicated a desire to bring that up and discuss that personally with the President. This is an issue the President and his national security have already been talking about for some time.”
Ghani discussed his country’s need for support during a Monday press conference with Secretary of State John Kerry and Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter.
“Peace is our goal, but peace from strength, an enduring peace that will bring regional cooperation,” Ghani said, acknowledging that President Obama will make the decision on troop numbers.
“What we have emphasized and agreed is that we are strategic partners. We are bound by common interests and will act together to ensure both the safety of United States and the safety of Afghanistan. That is the important consideration. Numbers are a means; they are not an end in themselves,” Ghani said.
Tuesday’s meeting, Ghani’s first trip to the White House as president, marks a pointed shift in the relationship between the U.S. and Afghanistan since Ghani took office.
“This is a different relationship than we had under President Karzai,” Jeff Eggers, special assistant to the President for Afghanistan and Pakistan, told reporters in a conference call Friday. “It’s clearly more cooperative and better.”
