John Kerry on Afghanistan: ‘We are not withdrawing, we are drawing down’

In an interview Thursday, US Secretary of State John Kerry told Pakistani news source, Geo News senior anchor, Hamid Mir concerning the US presence in Afghanistan,  “Not every single soldier will leave in 2014. We have been very clear about that. We are not withdrawing we are drawing down.”

U.S. Air Force photo by by Senior Airman Grovert Fuentes-Contreras

Earlier this week, Peter Lavoy, the Pentagon’s top policy official on Afghanistan said, “the “zero option” in Afghanistan — a complete pullout of U.S. troops — is unrealistic and there will need to be some level of U.S. involvement in the country even after the 2014 withdrawal.

The Pentagon  has developed a number of plans for U.S. involvement after the 2014 withdrawal based on the current situation on the ground, which was highlighted in a new six-month review of the security situation in Afghanistan.

The war will have it’s 12th anniversary this October.

Earlier this year, during  his 2013 State of the Union Address Barack Obama did not specify what the post-2014 troop levels would be. “Beyond 2014, America’s commitment to a unified and sovereign Afghanistan will endure, but the nature of our commitment will change,” Obama said.

In a July 2013 New York Times article, they reported that  President Obama was giving serious consideration to speeding up the withdrawal of United States forces from Afghanistan and to a “zero option” that would leave no American troops there after next year in light of increased frustrations in dealing with Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai.