(VOVworld) - US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter on Wednesday indicated the United States would maintain extra troops in Afghanistan beyond the end of next year.

U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter delivers remarks in Washington October 14, 2015. (Photo: Reuters)

He said leaving Afghanistan would be self-defeating and if they did so, they could not take advantage of the success they had to date. The US-led NATO troops were deployed to Afghanistan in 2001.
As planned, the number of the US in Afghanistan would be cut by half from 10,000 to 5,000. By the end of 2016, the US troops in Afghanistan are just enough to protect the US embassy in the capital Kabul.
But the President Barack Obama’s administration has adjusted the troop withdrawal plan which allows another 1,000 troops to stay in Afghanistan this year. The Obama administration has come under criticism for its planned withdrawal of forces.