President Obama’s spokesman said that American troops might continue to fight in Afghanistan after 2014, a policy move that the White House suggesteded would not violate the commander-in-chief’s promise to end the war.

“We will entertain a continued presence in Afghanistan that would focus if there is a continued presence on counterterrorism and training the Afghan forces,” White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said today during the press briefing. “And that’s continuing beyond the 2014 deadline when we will wind down the war in Afghanistan.”

Carney said that Obama has not made any decision about post-2014 troop levels. “Top Obama administration officials want to keep around 10,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan when formal combat ends in 2014, cementing a limited, long-term American military presence in the country if Kabul agrees, said senior U.S. officials,” according to the Wall Street Journal.

“The pace of that draw-down is a decision that he will be making in the coming months,” Carney said today.