U.S. President Barack Obama is expected to shed more light on his foreign policy goals during a commencement address, on Wednesday, to U.S. Military Graduates in West Point, New York.
The speech comes a day after the president outlined his plans for Afghanistan, when the U.S. combat mission in the country closes at the end of this year.
In a White House statement, Mr. Obama said it is time to turn the page on the last decade when so much U.S. foreign policy was focused on the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
He said 9,800 will remain in Afghanistan by 2015 and less than 1,000 when he leaves office in January 2017.
RAND Corporation South Asia analyst Arturo Munoz says there is concern that the relatively quick draw-down could leave Afghanistan vulnerable.
“What people are arguing for is an advisory mission, a training mission and a special commando-type mission to do raids--you know, special forces - but not with a short cut-off.”
In a VOA interview, Munoz said Mr. Obama may have chosen to lay out his strategy in advance in order to give the Afghan government more time to react.
There are currently 32,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan, down from a peak of 100,000.