Perhaps realizing that the situation on the ground calls for a more robust U.S.-presence, President Obama flipped on his goal to reduce the number of American troops in Afghanistan to 1,000. According to reports, administration officials claim that the president is now planning on keeping 5,500 American troops in the country through 2017.

The president is expected to make a formal announcement sometime Thursday morning that he plans to maintain 5,500 troops at bases in Bagram, Jalalabad and Kandahar into 2017 and the term of his successor, the U.S. officials said Wednesday night.

Obama’s change of heart comes after reportedly months of deliberation and discussion with Afghan leaders. Or, perhaps he just saw the obvious – that Islamist militants aren’t going anywhere anytime soon and would only fill the vacuum created by disbanded American soldiers. The decision might also have something to do with the downfall of Kunduz -- an Afghan city that was overtaken by Taliban fighters armed with only "basic equipment."

Afghanistan claimed to have driven the Taliban out of the key city of Kunduz on Thursday, but the effort to oust the militants from the provincial capital may prove to be too little, too late. ... there are rumblings in Washington that the plan [to reduce U.S. troops] should be revised and the fall of Kunduz has added impetus to that argument, according to analysts. "It's certainly given fodder to people who want the levels to stay where they are, if not increase," said Ted Callahan, a Western adviser based in northeast Afghanistan. "It undermined the administration's narrative that Afghanistan has progressed to a point where it's capable of standing without, or with a bare minimum, of U.S. support."

Regardless of the impetus, NBC reports that remaining American troops will still retain the same “limited mission,” including conducting counterterrorism operations and training Afghan personnel.

They said it would cost $14.6 billion to keep the larger force in the country, while Obama's original Kabul-only presence would have cost about $10 billion.

In testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee last week, Army Gen. John Campbell, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, said "a lot has happened" since Obama announced his drawdown strategy last year. "Based on conditions on the ground, I do believe we have to provide senior leaders with options," Campbell said.

You think?

In 2010, the U.S. maintained 100,000 troops in Afghanistan. Today, just a few short years later, that number has fallen to 9,800. Of course, Obama’s mission has been to withdraw practically all U.S. troops, maintaining only the bare minimum, but terrorists have once again revealed to the president that they do not simply go away – no matter how much one capitulates to them.