Obama to slow Afghan pullback, though post-2016 plan intact

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama is expected to announce plans next week to slow down the pace of troop withdrawals between now and the end of 2016 to maintain security in Afghanistan. But the White House on Friday night tamped down expectations raised earlier by an administration official that it could reconsider its plan to remove nearly all U.S. troops from Afghanistan by the end of 2016.