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| White House: US will have 9800 troops in Afghanistan after 2014 - CBS News Posted: 27 May 2014 08:36 AM PDT President Obama speaks to U.S. troops deployed in Afghanistan during an unannounced visit to Bagram Air Base in Kabul, May 25, 2014. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst President Obama is set to announce that the U.S. will leave 9,800 troops in Afghanistan after 2014 if the Afghan government signs a bilateral security agreement allowing their presence, a senior administration official said Tuesday. The announcement is scheduled for 2:45 p.m. The president reiterated his pledge to bring the nearly 13-year war to a close by the end of 2014 this week during a surprise Memorial Day Weekend visit to Afghanistan on Sunday and his remarks at Arlington National Cemetery commemorating the holiday on Monday. But the future of U.S. troop presence has been uncertain for months as Afghan President Hamid Karzai has refused to sign a security agreement allowing U.S. troops to stay after the combat mission is concluded at the end of this year. The candidates running to replace Karzai have indicated they will sign an agreement, but the uncertainty has delayed the U.S. military's ability to plan for the future. The senior administration official said the number of troops would be reduced by half by the end of 2015 and moved to a normal embassy presence with a security assistance office in Kabul, as is the case in Iraq, by the end of 2016. The president has identified two missions in the country after 2014: training Afghan forces and supporting counter terror operations against the remnants of al Qaeda. Speaking to soldiers at Bagram Air Field this weekend, the president said he hoped to sign a bilateral security agreement to "preserve all the gains that you have helped win." He said he wants to ensure that Afghanistan will never again be used to launch an attack on the U.S., as it was in September 2001. Mr. Obama will also deliver the commencement address at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point Wednesday, where he is expected to expand on and defend his approach to the recent foreign policy crises the country has faced. © 2014 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. |
| Australia Says Missing Malaysia Jet Ran Out of Fuel - Voice of America Posted: 27 May 2014 08:07 AM PDT Australia has concluded that the Malaysian passenger jet missing since early March likely crashed into the Indian Ocean after running out of fuel. The Australian report Tuesday said the conclusion was based on analysis of the final brief data exchange between the jet with 239 people aboard and a satellite monitoring air traffic. The report came as Malaysia released 45 pages of raw satellite data collected by Britain's Inmarsat telecommunications company used to calculate the suspected crash site, believed to be off the western coast of Australia. Flight 370 had been headed from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing when it disappeared in the early hours of March 8, but weeks of intensive air and sea searches have found no trace of the Boeing 777. Relatives of the missing people had demanded the release of the satellite data, so independent analysts can try to determine whether searchers have been looking in the right location. But some air safety analysts said the newly released information is still incomplete. A relative of a missing passenger, Steve Wang, also found the new information lacking. "Well, since I have already looked at the report, it only contains the data, but what we want is the full version of the Inmarsat report including the data, and also the way how you calculate. The method and the formula you use. That is also very important, because only simply data means nothing. Only data cannot lead to the conclusion, only data cannot lead to the ending. There must be other analyzing and we want to see the full version of the report," he said. A Malaysia-led international investigation team used the data to determine the plane crashed in the southern Indian Ocean off the coast of Australia. The plane disappeared without any distress calls, about half an hour after taking off from Kuala Lumpur. Malaysian officials believe someone with knowledge of flight systems intentionally diverted the jet. Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters. |
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