--- title: Obama Will Leave 8,400 U.S. Troops In Afghanistan | TIME description: President Barack Obama plans to leave around 8,400 U.S. troops in Afghanistan when he finishes his term. A Taliban resurgence has led Washington to rethink its plan to drop troop levels from 9,800 to 5,500 troops by the end of 2016. canonical: https://time.com/video/SUtdrCOz/ og:title: Obama Will Leave 8,400 U.S. Troops In Afghanistan og:description: President Barack Obama plans to leave around 8,400 U.S. troops in Afghanistan when he finishes his term. A Taliban resurgence has led Washington to rethink its plan to drop troop levels from 9,800 to 5,500 troops by the end of 2016. og:url: https://time.com/video/SUtdrCOz/ og:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/SUtdrCOz/poster.jpg?width=720 og:type: video.other twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Obama Will Leave 8,400 U.S. Troops In Afghanistan twitter:description: President Barack Obama plans to leave around 8,400 U.S. troops in Afghanistan when he finishes his term. A Taliban resurgence has led Washington to rethink its plan to drop troop levels from 9,800 to 5,500 troops by the end of 2016. twitter:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/SUtdrCOz/poster.jpg?width=720 --- # Obama Will Leave 8,400 U.S. Troops In Afghanistan > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription. ## Video: Obama Will Leave 8,400 U.S. Troops In Afghanistan [Watch (HLS stream): Obama Will Leave 8,400 U.S. Troops In Afghanistan](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/SUtdrCOz.m3u8) (1:54)  _Published 2016-07-06. President Barack Obama plans to leave around 8,400 U.S. troops in Afghanistan when he finishes his term. A Taliban resurgence has led Washington to rethink its plan to drop troop levels from 9,800 to 5,500 troops by the end of 2016._ --- Jul 27, 2023 8:22 PM UTC --- ## More From This Series [All Videos](https://time.com/video/) [Know Right Now: Obama to Keep Troops in Afghanistan](/video/5KmB0DBH/) ### Know Right Now: Obama to Keep Troops in Afghanistan [President Obama - Keeping 9,800 Troops in Afghanistan](/video/hfcjFXGh/) ### President Obama - Keeping 9,800 Troops in Afghanistan [Last Australia Troops to Leave Afghanistan](/video/RNAIgkrc/) ### Last Australia Troops to Leave Afghanistan --- ## Transcript More than 14 years ago, after Al- Qaeda attacked our nation on 9 / 11, the United States went to war in Afghanistan against these terrorists and the Taliban that harbored them. Over the years, and thanks to heroic efforts by our military Our intelligence community, our diplomats and our development professionals. We pushed Al- Qaeda out of its camps. Helped the Afghan people topple the Taliban. And helped them establish a democratic government. We dealt crippling blows to the Al- Qaeda leadership. We delivered justice to Osama Bin Laden and we trained Afghan forces to take responsibility for their own security based on the recommendation of General Nicholson as well as Secretary Carter and Chairman Dunford and following extensive consultations with my National Security Team. As well as congress, and the Afghan government, and our international partners. Am announcing an additional adjustment to our pasture. Instead of going down to 5500 troops by the end of this year, the United States will maintain approximately 8400 troops in Afghanistan into next year through the end of my administration. The narrow missions assigned to our forces will not change. They remain focused on supporting Afghan Forces and going after terrorist. But maintaining our forces at this specific level based on our assessment of the security conditions and the strength of Afghan Forces. Will allow us to continue to provide tailored support to help Afghan Forces. Continue to improve. I strongly believe that it is in our national security interest, especially after all the blood and treasure we've invested in Afghanistan over the years, that we give our Afghan partners the very best opportunity to succeed. ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Obama Will Leave 8,400 U.S. Troops In Afghanistan ","description":"President Barack Obama plans to leave around 8,400 U.S. troops in Afghanistan when he finishes his term. A Taliban resurgence has led Washington to rethink its plan to drop troop levels from 9,800 to 5,500 troops by the end of 2016. 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