By Sky News US Team
The United States is considering a delay to its planned military exit from Afghanistan, newly sworn in Pentagon boss Ash Carter has said.
President Barack Obama will discuss a range of options for slowing the US withdrawal when Afghan president Ashraf Ghani visits the White House next month, Mr Carter said from Kabul.
The US defence chief arrived in Afghanistan on Saturday, making his first overseas visit since taking office on Tuesday.
"Our priority now is to make sure this progress sticks," Mr Carter said at a joint conference with Mr Ghani.
"That is why President Obama is considering a number of options to reinforce our support for President Ghani's security strategy, including possible changes to the timeline for our drawdown of US troops."
He also said the US President was "rethinking" the counter-terrorism mission in Afghanistan, although he did not elaborate.
Mr Ghani said he expected to discuss the matter with Mr Obama "in the context of the larger partnership".
The current withdrawal plan calls for the US to halve the number of troops in Afghanistan to 5,000 this year, gradually winding down to a "normal" US embassy presence by 2016.
Mr Carter would not say if the Obama administration was considering keeping US troops in Afghanistan beyond 2016.
Republicans have criticised the current Afghan strategy, saying hard-won gains against the Taliban could be lost in much the same way sectarian violence returned to Iraq after the US withdrawal.
The emergence of a small number of militants in Afghanistan aligning themselves with Islamic State has underscored anxieties about the dangers as foreign forces withdraw.
Mr Carter said the IS presence in Afghanistan appeared "aspirational", but added the US counter-terrorism strategy in the region was under review.
"We are discussing and rethinking the details of the counter-terrorism mission and how the environment has changed here with respect to terrorism, since we first laid out our plans," he said.
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