The U.S. is slowing the pace of troop withdrawal from the country. President Barack Obama made the announcement at a joint press conference with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani at the White House. CCTV America’s White House Correspondent Jessica Stone filed this report from Washington.

Highlights:

• U.S. President Barack Obama is slowing the withdrawal of more than 4,000 U.S. troops from Afghanistan.
• Instead of drawing down to 5,500 by the end of 2015, nearly twice as many troops will remain through December.
• The president is also delaying his decision about when to leave a Kabul force behind until later this year.
• Ashraf Ghani, the President of Afghanistan said “The 2,215 Americans that have died must not die in vain. They must leave behind a legacy of a stable Afghanistan.”

---

Nick Burns from Harvard on Ghani’s visit

For more on President Ghani’s visit and the state of Afghan-U.S. relations, CCTV spoke to Nick Burns. He is a former Undersecretary at the U.S. State Department.
He is currently a professor of the Practice of Diplomacy and International Politics at Harvard University.

---

Panel discussion on Ghani’s visit

For more on President Ghani’s visit to the U.S. and what the future holds for U.S.-Afghan relations, CCTV America discussed with Tony Shaffer, a senior fellow at the London Center for Policy Research, and Michael Kugelman, senior program associate for South and Southeast Asia from the Wilson Center.