flamboyant runner, that would be donald trump. standby, i want to go to the pentagon, the defense secretary ash carter is speaking out answering questions about the latest u.s. decision to keep u.s. troops in afghanistan. our top military leaders, national security team, nato allies and the government of afghanistan, the president announced his decision to maintain our current force posture of 9,800 troops through most of next year. by january 2017, u.s. forces will draw down to 5,500 troops. and they will be deployed at several locations around afghanistan including kabul, kandahar and ji lal bad in support of two enduring missions opinion our counterterrorism