U.S. President Barack Obama announced Thursday that a complete withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan will be prolonged.

美国总统奥巴马周四宣布，美国军队从阿富汗完全撤离的时期将被延长。

The decision means he will hand the conflict off to his successor.

President Obama said the hard decision was made after continuous assessments of the situation on the ground with his national security team.

"Afghan forces are still not as strong as they need to be. They're developing critical capabilities -- intelligence, logistics, aviation, command and control. And meanwhile, the Taliban has made gains, particularly in rural areas."

The U.S. will maintain 9,800 troops throughout most of 2016. Starting from 2017, that number will come down to 5,500. President Obama stressed that the U.S. troops will only focus on two objectives.

"The mission will not change. Our troops will focus on training Afghans and counterterrorism operations."