WASHINGTON - Reaching an agreement on the $662 billion Defense Authorization Bill for the year 2012, US lawmakers arrived at a consensus on making the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan conditioned-based rather than arbitrary.
The bill allocates 15.5 billion for contingency operations, including in Afghanistan, the US House Armed Services Committee said, after a Conference Committee comprising of members from both the House of Representatives and the Senate agreed on the National Defense Authorization Act.

"The FY12 NDAA ensures that any withdrawal of forces from Afghanistan is conditions-based rather than arbitrary," it said.

The conference report contains new specific authorities for commanders to terminate or void contracts without penalty if it is determined that such a contract provides funding for groups supporting an insurgency. It provides additional access to contractor and subcontractor records to ensure that funding from US contracts is not aiding the insurgency.

The bill freezes $700 million in aid to Pakistan pending Pentagon's delivery of a strategy for improving the effectiveness of such assistance and assurances that Pakistan is countering improvised explosive devices networks that are targeting collation forces.

"This freeze includes the majority of the $1 billion in Pakistan Counterinsurgency Fund," the House Armed Services Committee said. The bill, which sets policy and spending priorities for the Pentagon, is generally considered must-pass legislation.

Consistent with recommendations of military commanders, the bill cuts $6 billion from the budget request for the Afghanistan Security Forces Fund to a level of $1.2 billion for building the capacity of the Afghan National Army and police.

It also cuts by $5billion the Overseas Contingency Operations funding to reflect the drawdown of US forces in Afghanistan. It further slashes by $75 million the Afghanistan Infrastructure Fund, based on the concern that the country is not ready to absorb a rapid increase in funding.