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Working withdrawal timetable

President Barack Obama, having given Islamic terrorists in Afghanistan aid and comfort by assuring them, in effect, that all they had to do was bide their time, has changed course.

For months, the White House had held to a deadline of the end of the year for drawing U.S. troop strength in Afghanistan down to 5,500. Generals on the ground urged him to alter that stance.

Last week it was revealed 9,800 U.S. troops will remain at least through the 2016 fighting season in Afghanistan.

That throws a monkey wrench into Taliban plans to wait out the United States.

Obama’s action may not keep the Taliban from retaking Afghanistan eventually. And scrapping the pullout deadline may be viewed by the terrorists as something temporary that can be reversed by stepping up attacks on U.S. troops. If that is the case, the old pullout schedule should be reinstated to save American lives.

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