The United States military bases in the Afghanistan cities of Kandahar and Jalalabad aren’t about to close just yet.

According to U.S. officials, the sites are likely to remain open until beyond the end of 2015, as Washington mulls slowing its military pull-out from Afghanistan to help the new government fight the Taliban.

Reports say the reasons are twofold. One, it’s an effect of the U.S.’s promising relationship with the country’s new leader — President Ashraf Ghani and two, it’s the strong desire to keep this situation from being a carbon copy of Iraq when local security forces collapsed upon the U.S.’s departure.

It also could have something to do with new talks between Afghanistan leadership and the Taliban, which is being backed by both Pakistan and China.

U.S. officials say that the declaration President Obama made in May of last year that the number of troops in the Middle Eastern country will be halved from 10,000 by the end of 2015 has changed.

The White House made no comment on keeping both of the bases up and running into 2016.

President Obama is expected to make a decision on whether or not to slow troop withdrawal sometime next week, when Ghani and top Afghan officials arrive in Washington.

Reuters