The Obama administration on Tuesday indicated it may decide to leave no troops in Afghanistan after December 2014, the Associated Press reports.
White House deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes said the administration “wouldn’t rule out any option,” including leaving no troop presence in the country the U.S. invaded in 2001 even though the Pentagon has suggested that it may be necessary to leave up to 1,000 troops there.
“The U.S. does not have an inherent objective of ‘X’ number of troops in Afghanistan,” Rhodes said. “We have an objective of making sure there is no safe haven for al-Qaida in Afghanistan and making sure that the Afghan government has a security force that is sufficient to ensure the stability of the Afghan government.”
