Washington, Jumada II 05, 1436, March 25, 2015, SPA -- US President Barack Obama announced Tuesday that the United States will slow its military withdrawal from Afghanistan, keeping 9,800 soldiers in the country through the end of 2015 instead of cutting the number by about half as originally planned. “Afghanistan remains a very dangerous place,” Obama said in explaining his decision at a news conference with visiting Afghan President Ashraf Ghani. The U.S. president said the size of the U.S. troop presence for 2016 will be decided later this year. Obama said it would be “well worth it” to extend U.S. troop levels in Afghanistan for a few more months, but he emphasized that the overall timeline for shrinking the force has not changed from the goal of 2017. “So that hasn’t changed. Our transition out of a combat role has not changed,” he told reporters. Ghani had requested from Obama that the U.S. withdrawal be slowed because Afghan security forces are preparing for a difficult spring fighting season and also are contending with ISIS fighters seeking to recruit from Afghanistan. Specifically, Ghani told reporters that U.S. flexibility in leaving more soldiers in place would help accelerate reforms and better train Afghan security forces. --SPA 11:52 LOCAL TIME 08:52 GMT www.spa.gov.sa/w