REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, WASHINGTON -- The role of US troops in Afghanistan will shift in 2015 to training Afghan security forces and counter-terrorism activities, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said on Monday.
Earnest said the new role doesn't represent an expansion and that there would be 10,000 boots on the ground if Afghanistan by the end of this year and the military would be back into an embassy protection role by the end of 2016.
On Sunday, a suicide bomber detonated his explosive vest in a crowd of spectators at a volleyball match in Afghanistan, killing 45 people, a provincial official said, as foreign troops withdraw from the country after more than a decade of fighting.
Mukhles Afghan, spokesman for the governor of Paktika province, said at least 50 more were wounded in the attack in Yahya Khel district, where residents had gathered to watch a tournament final. He said most of the casualties were civilians.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for Sunday's attack. The spokesman said around 50 more people were wounded. Casualties were high because the crowd was so dense, since people had come from nearby districts to cheer on their team. No other details were immediately available because of the remoteness of the location.
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