As diminishing coalition of Western governments still involved in the 11-year war in Afghanistan are desperate to get out, Washington preaches staying the course through gritted teeth until the end of 2014, at which point Afghan government forces will ostensibly have the numbers, the training, the equipment and the will to take over the fight against the Taliban.
While Washington insists 2014 is a hard deadline for withdrawal, there's little optimism that NATO forces will leave behind a stable Afghanistan. No surprise, then, that the Administration is currently in negotiations with Kabul over keeping a residual force in Afghanistan well after the departure date.
