Will US bases in Afghanistan stay open?

Two U.S. military bases in Afghanistan may stay open even after President Obama pulls out thousands of troops from the country, according to Reuters.

{mosads}Obama is still weighing whether he’ll keep bases in Kandahar and Jalalabad open past 2015, the news service reports, and could make the decision by the time the new Afghan president, Ashraf Ghani, visits the White House next week. Ghani has lobbied Obama to slow the administration’s withdrawal timeline and keep more troops in the country to help maintain security

The report comes days after military officials told The Associated Press that Obama plans to keep more troops in the country through 2016 than originally planned. Officials also pegged that public announcement to Ghani’s visit.

“Being responsive to President Ghani’s request for flexibility is an important part of the visit,” a senior administration official told Reuters, adding that Ghani won’t “feel empty-handed” when he leaves Washington.

While the administration is weighing changing its short-term plans in Afghanistan to help the new president succeed, administration officials told the news service that there hasn’t been a discussion yet about changing the timeline for 2017.

“No one’s really talking about anything beyond 2016. Most of the discussion has been about the slope of the curve over the course of 2015 and 2016 to be able to kind of optimize the chances of success,” a second U.S. official told Reuters.

The army base in Kandahar helps support the Afghan air force, while the base in Jalalabad is near the border with Pakistan, where Taliban militants sometimes flee.