U.S. stands by plan to pull troops from Afghanistan

(Reuters) - The United States on Monday stood by plans to halve the number of its troops in Afghanistan this year and reduce them further in 2016 following Afghan President Ashraf Ghani's suggestion that President Barack Obama review his deadline.

But Ghani's comment adds to a growing debate over whether the White House will stick to its plans, already amended twice, of cutting U.S. troops to about 5,000 by the end of this year and drawing down to a "normal" U.S. embassy presence in Kabul at the end of 2016.

Ghani may have also given political cover to Obama should the president decide he needs to renege on his withdrawal pledge to preserve shaky gains made over 13 years of war and to avoid a collapse of local forces that Iraq witnessed last year.

"My guess is that he probably will re-evaluate these decisions in due course," said James Dobbins, who was Obama's special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan until July.

Among the factors at play are the course of the war itself; reconciliation efforts between the government and Taliban; U.S. public opinion and the 2016 U.S. presidential debate.