A soldier waves to his family as the Montana Army National Guard 484th MP Company departs from Edwards Jet Center in Billings, Mont., April 17, 2012. The unit headed to Afghanistan. Larry Mayer/The Billings Gazette/AP
Afghan military soldiers stand guard as Taliban fighters attacked near Kabul airport, Afghanistan, June, 10, 2013. Seven heavily armed Taliban insurgents launched a pre-dawn attack near Afghanistan's main airport, apparently targeting NATO's airport headquarters with rocket-propelled grenades, assault rifles, and at least one large bomb. Two Afghan civilians were wounded and all the attackers were killed after an hours-long battle. Ahmad Jamshid/AP
Afghan National Army soldiers from the 2nd Kandak, 4th Brigade, 201st Corps in the Shinwar district of Nangarhar Province, Afghanistan, train on their radio, on May 18, 2013. US Army advisers are working to support the Afghan military as they take control of security ahead of the 2014 drawdown of US forces. Kristin M. Hall/AP
Afghan security personnel investigate the site of an attack in Kabul, June 10, 2013. Seven Taliban insurgents including suicide bombers attacked the main airport in the Afghan capital, Kabul, with explosions and gunfire heard near an area that also houses major foreign military bases. Mohammad Ismail/Reuters
Two girls play on a wall high above Kabul in Afghanistan. Squatters have built homes on many rocky hillsides like this one, where no running water exists and there is often no electricity. Melanie Stetson Freeman/Staff
Pigeons fly as children walk near the Sakhi Shrine in Kabul Jan. 8 , 2013. Omar Sobhani/Reuters
US troops arrive at the site of a suicide-bomb attack in Spin Boldak district of Kandahar Province on Jan. 6, 2013. Two Taliban suicide bombers targeted a community meeting at a major border town in southern Afghanistan, killing at least four people and wounding 15 others, local officials said. Ahmad Nadeem/Reuters
A woman in a burqa carries her child through a checkpoint in Jalalabad. Melanie Stetson Freeman/Staff
A bread shop and bakery sells traditional flat bread, or naan, in downtown Kabul. Melanie Stetson Freeman/Staff
In this photo taken in mid-November 2012, 2nd Lt. Yelena Yatskikh of Las Vegas, 2nd platoon leader for the Nevada Army National Guard’s 593rd Transportation Company, prepares for a convoy into Kabul from Camp Phoenix, Afghanistan. She served as convoy commander for the trip. Steve Ranson/Lahontan Valley News/AP
Afghan police officers march during their graduation ceremony in Herat, west of Kabul, Afghanistan, Jan. 10, 2013. About 250 police security forces, including 10 female police officers and 50 local policemen, graduated after receiving six months of training at a police training center. Afghan forces are expected to take over full security duties from NATO-led ISAF forces by the end of 2014. Hoshang Hashimi/AP
A weapons dealer cleans his AK-47 assault rifle at his house in Laghman Province on Dec. 10, 2012. Arms purchases are soaring in Afghanistan, along with the price of weapons – a sign that many Afghans fear a return of the Taliban, civil war, or rising lawlessness. Parwiz/Reuters
A Taliban fighter holds a copy of the holy Quran as he joins the Afghanistan government in the Afghan city of Jalalabad, east of Kabul, Jan. 6, 2013. About five former Taliban fighters from Shinwar district of Nangarhar Province handed over their weapons as part of a peace reconciliation program. Rahmat Gul/AP
An Afghan worker lifts a sack of wheat onto his push cart on Jan. 2, 2013, in Kabul Afghanistan. The wheat was donated by the United Nation's refugee agency, which distributed relief assistance to about 440 Afghan returnees and Afghan families deemed most at risk during the cold winter weather. Musadeq Sadeq/AP
Afghan dealers exchange currency at a money market in Kandahar Province, Nov. 11, 2012. Washington has started attacking the Taliban's funding channels ahead of withdrawing most of its combat forces by 2014, ending the longest war in US history. Ahmad Nadeem/Reuters
An Afghan commando and a US soldier from 20th Special Forces Group take part in a training exercise in Afghanistan's Wardak Province, Oct. 4, 2009. US troops serving in one of southern Afghanistan's most violent areas say they are successfully training Afghans to secure their country. Their progress will help determine how many more American troops President Obama sends home in 2014. Maya Alleruzzo/AP
Internally displaced Afghan children play at a refugee camp in Kabul on Nov. 12, 2012. Adnan Abidi/Reuters
Soldiers leaving Afghanistan board a US military plane at the US base in Bagram, north of Kabul, Afghanistan, July 14, 2011. The Obama administration in early 2013 put on the table the possibility of leaving no US troops in Afghanistan after December 2014, an option that runs counter to the Pentagon's view that thousands of troops may be needed to keep a lid on Al Qaeda and to strengthen Afghan forces. Musadeq Sadeq/AP
It's called the 'zero option' – virtually no US troops in Afghanistan after 2014. Whether it would advance US security aims is debatable, but it arises again as Obama and Afghanistan's Karzai butt heads over terms of keeping American forces on scene.
The United States has two main objectives in Afghanistan after the US-led NATO mission ends in December 2014: to prevent Al Qaeda and other terrorist elements from regaining a toehold there from which to operate, and to continue training and building Afghan forces so they can maintain the country’s security and stability.
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