国际英语新闻:Obama Slows US Troop Withdrawal From Afghanistan

Officials said the U.S. slowdown in Afghanistan comes after months of deliberations between the White House, military leaders at the Defense Department and commanders in the field, plus Afghan officials, and after Afghan forces briefly lost control of Kunduz to Taliban militants.

Taliban demands withdrawl

On Thursday, the Afghan Taliban stressed that the U.S.-led "occupation" of Afghanistan should be ended "in all its shapes, an Islamic government should be established" and there should be no foreign interference in internal Afghan affairs.

The group criticized the reported plans of the U.S. and its NATO partners to extend their existing Afghan military mission in Afghanistan beyond 2016.

In his remarks, Obama had a message for the Taliban and other extremist groups in announcing the delay in US troop withdrawal.

"By now, it should be clear to the Taliban and all who oppose Afghanistan’s progress – the only real way to achieve the full draw-down of U.S. and foreign troops from Afghanistan is through lasting a political settlement with the Afghan government," Obama said.

He said the United States would continue to support the Afghan-led reconciliation process and the Afghan government led by President  Ghani and Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah as they pursue “critical reforms."

As he completed his statement, Obama told reporters the decision to keep more U.S. troops in Afghanistan longer than originally planned was "not disappointing" but necessary and consistent with his overall vision for a "dangerous area" of the world.

"We have always known that we had to maintain a counterterrorism operation in that region in order to tamp down any reemergence of active al-Qaida networks or other networks that might do us harm."