(MENAFN- Kuwait News Agency (KUNA)) President Barack Obama said that US presence in Afghanistan come 2016 will be restricted to its diplomatic mission in Kabul.
In a report to the Congress on US military deployment worldwide, he said that the mission's responsibility will be to focus on supporting security activities in Afghanistan.
Currently, US forces deployed around the world are estimated at around 15,000, and this number will decrease to under 10,000 at the start of 2015, he added.
Obama underlined that the US will continue to support Afghanistan in order to tackle remaining Al-Qaeda elements, and to cooperate with allies in the region to combat any kind of terrorism, particular those found to be of fundamentalist ideology.
Addressing this presence in Iraq, which he described as "technical", aimed at combating jihadist group, Islamic State or ISIL, he said that around 3,100 individuals were carrying out training and support of telecommunications and strategies for Iraqi and Kurdish Peshmerga forces.
He went on to point out other military missions like Somalia, which in September launched an airstrike that killed a senior leader in the terrorist group Al-Shabab, while in Yemen, US forces, in coordination with local authorities continue to combat Al-Qaeda-affiliated groups.
Other missions in Niger (200 troops), Chad and Uganda (300), Egypt (700) and Jordan (1,700) are there to combat terrorism or to support operations aimed at the threat through consultation or direct strategic support.
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