President Obama announced today he will not fulfill one of the central promises of his years in the White House. Instead of withdrawing all troops from Afghanistan by the end of next year, the current force of 9,800 troops will be down-sized to about 5,500. "We've made an enormous investment in a stable Afghanistan. Afghans are making difficult but genuine progress. This modest but meaningful extension of our presence, while sticking to our current narrow missions, can make a real difference."
Matthew Rosenberg, national security reporter for the New York Times, says that the President believes it's "the right thing to do."