An additional 1000 US troops will remain in Afghanistan next year to meet a temporary shortfall in NATO forces, US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel says.
President Barack Obama approved the move despite an earlier plan to limit the US force to a maximum of 9800 troops in 2015.
A protracted Afghan election delayed the signing of security deals with the United States and NATO countries, which set back plans for Western governments to contribute troops to the post-2014 mission, Hagel said during a visit to Kabul on Saturday.
"President Obama has provided US military commanders the flexibility to manage any temporary force shortfalls that we might experience for a few months as we allow for coalition troops to arrive," he told a media conference.
"This will mean the delayed withdrawal of up to 1000 US troops - so that up to 10,800 troops, rather than 9800, could remain in Afghanistan through the end of this year, and for the first few months of next year."
Concern is growing for Afghan stability as the NATO military presence declines, with the national army and police enduring record casualties in battle this year and following a series of high-profile Taliban attacks in Kabul.
About 130,000 NATO troops were fighting in Afghanistan in 2010 at the peak of the foreign intervention, after the 2001 fall of the Taliban regime that sheltered Al-Qaeda.
The NATO support force taking over on December 31 will be 12,500-strong, made up of mainly US, German and Italian troops.
Hagel said Obama's decision did not change the new mission - which will focus on training Afghan forces - nor did it alter a long-term deadline for a US troop draw-down over the next two years.
The Pentagon chief added US forces would also maintain a limited counter-terrorism mission to prevent "al-Qaeda from using Afghanistan as a safe haven to threaten the United States."
Hagel said Afghanistan had "come a long way" over the past decade and that the newly-elected government and its security forces were ready to take charge of security.
"As difficult, as challenging, as long as this has been - by any definition, the country of Afghanistan, the people of Afghanistan are far better off today than they were 13 years ago," Hagel told reporters.
After a prolonged crisis over a fraud-mired election, President Ashraf Ghani came to power in September and signed a power-sharing deal with his poll rival Abdullah Abdullah.
"In 25 days, the Afghan-US relationship will witness fundamental changes," Ghani said.
"From January 1, the Afghan forces will assume countrywide security responsibility."
Hagel also confirmed the death of kidnapped US journalist Luke Somers during a failed rescue operation in Yemen.
"Our hearts are full of sorrow tonight," he said. "Our prayers and thoughts go out to his family.
"It was extremely dangerous and complicated. Like always with these operations, there is risk."
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