Democratic U.S. Senator Joe Donnelly says continued American troop presence in Afghanistan is vital to maintaining stability in the country. That comes after a recent Obama administration announcement about troop level strategy in the Asian nation.
President Obama recently announced that the U.S. will not withdraw as many troops from Afghanistan by the end of his presidency as originally planned. The president's target is now 8,400 in the country by early 2017, rather than reducing to 5,500.
Senator Joe Donnelly says after visiting with American and Afghani troops over the holiday weekend, he'd prefer the troop level were around 9,800.
Donnelly says the U.S. needs a more coherent and comprehensive counterterrorism strategy.In Afghanistan, he says that includes improvement in border areas – particularly working with Pakistan to secure its shared border.