Barack Obama is to keep US troops in Afghanistan beyond next year in response to Taliban advances, including the takeover of Kunduz late last month.
Obama, who was elected in 2008 on an antiwar platform, had hoped that he could leave office in January 2017 having ended US involvement on the ground in both Iraq and Afghanistan. Those hopes are now dashed.
The US president is scheduled to announce on Thursday that 5,500 troops will remain in Afghanistan beyond his departure date. The plan had been for them to leave by the end of 2016.
Reporters were briefed ahead of the announcement by senior Obama administration officials.
It is at least the second time that the US has had to revise its exit strategy in the face of surges by the Taliban, who, as well temporarily taking Kunduz in the north, control large swaths of the countryside.
