Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter met with U.S. military leaders in Afghanistan on Friday, as the United States seeks to help local forces beat back a surge in Taliban attacks and contain an emerging threat from militants linked to the Islamic State.<br />Carter touched down at Operating Base Fenty in eastern Afghanistan's Nangahar province - east of Kabul along the Pakistan border - where an array of armed groups pose a major test to Afghan forces as the bulk of foreign troops withdraw.<br />It is Carter's first visit since President Obama announced in October that the United States would keep a force of 5,500 U.S. troops in Afghanistan into 2017, abandoning his earlier ambition to withdraw all U.S. troops before he leaves office.<br />The Pentagon is also slowing the pace of troop reductions next year, a recognition of the ongoing reliance of Afghan troops on foreign military power, and of the continued insurgent threat that a 14-year U.S. and NATO operation has been unable to extinguish.
