US President Barack Obama has announced a pull-out plan for Afghanistan that will leave 9,800 troops in the country after 2014, overriding previous plans of a complete withdrawal by the end of the year. He has been insistent that at the beginning of 2015, the war in Afghanistan will officially be over, but leaving almost 10,000 there after 2014 may make it difficult to realise that distinction on the ground. US troops will still be armed and conducting ‘counter-terrorism’ missions. With this announcement the president is reinvesting in his strategy, giving the military what it says it needs but also giving them a timeline. The president says by 2017 the US will only provide the normal numbers that are needed to secure an embassy.