US, Afghan leaders discuss troop withdrawal

President Barack Obama held intensive White House talks Tuesday with his Afghan counterpart Ashraf Ghani, who is seeking "flexibility" on the pace of US troop withdrawals from his war-torn nation. Under current White House plans, the number of US troops in Afghanistan would be halved to around 5,000 by the end of this year. Ghani, who took charge six months ago after protracted power sharing negotiations, has embraced US calls for Afghanistan's 350,000 security personnel to lead t