WASHINGTON (AP) – President Barack Obama welcomes Afghanistan’s new president to the Oval Office on Tuesday with fraught questions staring them in the face: Will the U.S. slow its departure from Afghanistan – and for how long?
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani represents Obama’s last, best hope to make good on his promise to end America’s longest war by the time he leaves office, keeping just a thousand or so troops at the embassy to coordinate security. Ghani predecessor Hamid Karzai’s relationship with the White House was increasingly dysfunctional, and if the dealings with Ghani don’t turn out better, Obama risks leaving Afghanistan still vulnerable to the kinds of violent extremist groups that operated with impunity until 14 years ago, when the U.S. attacked after 9/11.
Ghani comes to the White House aiming to prove he’s a reliable partner worthy of U.S. support, despite his fractured government and a litany of problems still rampant in Afghanistan’s military – illiteracy, drug abuse and desertions, to name a few.
Most critically, Ghani is asking the president to keep more U.S. troops in his country for longer, as Afghan forces brace for a tough spring fighting season and contend with Islamic State fighters looking to recruit on their soil.
“We do not now ask what the United States can do for us,” Ghani said, invoking John F. Kennedy as he opened his U.S. visit on Monday. “We want to say what Afghanistan will do for itself and for the world.”