I wonder if this is the real course of action and the other three are "throwaways" as Iraq would appear to be a good precedent in the minds of some policymakers.
Mr. Obama still could reject all three of the Pentagon's options and decide against keeping any troops in the country after 2014, the officials said. It is unclear when an announcement will be made.
V/R
Dave
- WORLD NEWS
- Updated January 4, 2013, 8:17 p.m. ET
Deeper Troop Cutback Weighed
By ADAM ENTOUS And JULIAN E. BARNES
WASHINGTON—The Pentagon has sketched out plans for a scaled-back presence in Afghanistan, after the Obama administration pressed for options that would leave fewer troops in the country after 2014 than defense officials have proposed.
New Pentagon options would leave roughly 3,000, 6,000 or 9,000 U.S. troops, laying the groundwork for a more bare-bones international coalition in the country. Gen. John Allen, the commander of U.S. and North Atlantic Treaty Organization forces in Afghanistan, had earlier suggested 6,000 to 15,000 U.S. troops would be needed.
The new deployment options come as Afghan President Hamid Karzai prepares to visit Washington next week to discuss the U.S. security presence after 2014, when most foreign forces in the country are slated to have departed.
A smaller U.S. commitment would result in a corresponding drop in forces from other international coalition partners. The U.S. and its allies are negotiating future troop commitments on the basis of a formula that calls for U.S. troops to make up two-thirds of any follow-on force.
With a smaller U.S. troop presence, the State Department would also be forced to cut plans for large-scale diplomatic outposts across Afghanistan, and it would heighten the U.S.'s reliance on drones to monitor and target militants after most manned aircraft and their pilots pull out.
In late 2010, some senior administration and defense officials told NATO allies that the U.S. may need to keep at least 40,000 troops in Afghanistan after 2014, when the current NATO mission concludes. A year later, officials suggested troop levels could be closer to 20,000. As recently as November, Gen. Allen spoke privately with Pentagon chiefs about the need for 15,000 troops from the U.S. alone.
Last week, Gen. Allen laid out plans that envisioned 15,000 international troops in Afghanistan after 2014, about two-thirds of them from the U.S., according to NATO officials.
A final decision on troop levels has yet to be made by President Barack Obama, officials stressed. The president will discuss that subject and other issues when he meets with Mr. Karzai. Afghan officials said they are taking a wait-and-see approach.
Some NATO officials said the lower numbers could be a tactic to put pressure on Mr. Karzai to quickly cut a deal for a security presence. But U.S. officials say the lower numbers reflect the political reality in the U.S., amid wariness of costly long-term commitments overseas at a time of a budget crisis at home.
(Continued at the link below)
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