Washington (CNN) The United States will keep its current level of 9,800 troops in Afghanistan through the end of the year, rather than reducing that number to 5,500 as planned, the White House said Tuesday.

The announcement comes as Afghan President Ashraf Ghani visits President Barack Obama and attends a series of meetings at the White House.

Ghani has requested that the U.S. consider adjusting its troop withdrawal timeline, with greater support from U.S. troops over the next few years during a transition to a complete withdrawal.

"The timeline for a withdrawal down to a embassy center presence, a normalization of our presence in Afghanistan, remains the end of 2016," Obama said in a joint press conference with Ghani on Tuesday afternoon. "So that hasn't changed. Our transition out of a combat role has not changed."

Obama acknowledged that as long as troops were in the region, they would face risks in a "dangerous place."

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