(Reuters) - The U.S military bases in Kandahar and Jalalabad are likely to remain open beyond the end of 2015, a senior U.S official said, as Washington considers slowing its military pull-out from Afghanistan to help the new government fight the Taliban.

The anticipated policy reversal reflects the U.S embrace of Afghanistan's new and more cooperative president, Ashraf Ghani, and a desire to avoid the kind of collapse of local security forces that occurred in Iraq after the U.S pull-out there.

It coincides with new efforts backed by Pakistan and China for peace talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban. Wa

The U.S official said conditions had changed since May when President Barack Obamadeclared that by the end of 2015 the U.S force would be roughly halved from the current total of about 10,000 and would operate only from bases in Kabul and Bagram.

The White House had no immediate comment on the possibility of maintaining the Kandahar and Jalalabad bases into next year.

Obama is expected to decide in the next few days whether to slow the pace of the U.S troop withdrawal, possibly by next week when Ghani and Afghan Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah travel to Washington.

U.S officials hope the visit will garner American public support for a longer military mission and display a contrast to their prickly dealings with former president Hamid Karzai.

Ghani is getting a warm welcome. He meets the secretaries of state, defense and treasury at the Camp David presidential retreat on Monday, lunches with Obama at the White House on Tuesday, and speaks to a joint session of Congress on Wednesday.

  WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Barack Obama is considering whether to scrap his drawdown plan to reduce U.S forces in Afghanistan to 5,500 troops by the end of this year.

A senior administration official said Saturday this is at the request of new Afghan President Ashraf Ghani. The two leaders spoke earlier this week via video conference.

The official said no final decisions have been made.

"Presidents Obama and Ghani have had regular discussions on the security transition and peace and reconciliation processes in Afghanistan, as well as planning for President Ghani's upcoming visit to Washington," the administration official told CNN. "In the context of supporting Afghanistan's evolving national security strategy and associated opportunities, President Ghani has requested some flexibility in the troop drawdown timeline and base closure sequencing over the next two years and we are actively considering that request."

During a trip to Afghanistan last month, shortly after he took office, Defense Secretary Ash Carter said he might advise Obama to consider slowing the drawdown of U.S forces from Afghanistan -- partly because of better relations with the new Afghan government. Any review would be based on the reality on the ground.

There are about 10,000 U.S troops in Afghanistan.

       

WASHINGTON — Hints from senior Obama administration officials that the United States could put off the planned end-of-2016 military withdrawal from Afghanistan are viewed positively by neighboring Pakistan, the country’s ambassador to Washington, Jalil Abbas Jilani, told reporters at a Monitor breakfast Tuesday. 

A slowing of the timetable for withdrawing US troops from Afghanistan “would be viewed very positively in Pakistan,” given the increased militant activity the country has seen along the border as US troops in eastern Afghanistan have drawn down, Ambassador Jilani said. 

The Pakistani military has had to carry out a “surge” of its troops along the border with Afghanistan “over the last several months” as the departure of US troops has led to an increase in cross-border militant activity, Jilani said.

The increased deployment of troops on the border, from 145,000 to about 177,000, has meant that Pakistan has had fewer soldiers to help carry out the counter-militant offensive the government has under way in the restive North Waziristan province, Jilani said. 

Defense Secretary Ashton Carter suggested after meetings in Kabul last week that the timetable for withdrawing the 10,000 US troops still in Afghanistan could be adjusted. The US is considering leaving some troops longer to ensure that “progress sticks” as Afghan security forces take over the country’s security, Mr. Carter said.

Under the current plan, the 10,000 US troops in Afghanistan are to fall by half by the end of this year, with the remaining 5,000 scheduled to be out by the end of 2016. The plan could be announced when Afghan President Ashraf Ghani visits the White House later this month.

Jilani said the offensive under way in North Waziristan has been a “huge success” and has succeeded in clearing 90 percent of the territory of militant groups. He said the military would soon “go after” the remaining 10 percent unsecured territory.

The Pakistani diplomat, who has been in Washington for 14 months, said the Haqqani Network, one of Pakistan’s militant organizations, has been “completely disrupted” and has not carried out any recent attacks in North Waziristan.  

Many regional experts doubt that longtime official Pakistani links to certain militant groups have been severed, particularly those maintained by the country’s intelligence agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence. But Jilani insisted that the longtime perception of Pakistan differentiating between “good” and “bad” militants is outdated.

Jilani also expressed support for President Obama’s policy of avoiding the use of words like “Islamic” and “Muslim” to describe the violent extremism that is surging in parts of the world.

Around the world “only a small number of Muslims ... engage in such activities,” so it would be unfair and counterproductive “to paint the entire community with the broad brush” of extremism, he said. “This is not activity exclusive to any religion.”

At the same time, he acknowledged that many countries, including Pakistan, need to do more to counter the influence of radical extremists. Jilani said the Pakistani government is considering hosting a regional conference on best practices for tackling radical influences as part of Mr. Obama’s global initiative on countering violent extremism.

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