WASHINGTON - The Pentagon has proposed that 10,000 US troops stay in Afghanistan post-2014, or no troops by 2016 when President Obama leaves office, but the White House said no decision has been taken in this regard as yet.
The figures proposed by senior US military leadership, including US and NATO top commander in Afghanistan, are still debated within the White House, The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday.
“The new plan would start with 10,000 American troops at the beginning of 2015, but the number would decline sharply under a two-year drawdown schedule,” the report said.
The number would be brought to zero in January 2017 when US Obama leaves office, officials said, adding several round of discussions had taken place discussing the figures at the White House.
According to the daily, NATO and US top commander in Afghanistan Gen. Joseph Dunford told the White House advisers last week he felt the US should have 10,000 troops in Afghanistan, or withdraw all of them.
Senior US military leadership told the White House they needed that many troops so the Pentagon could secure the bases where personnel could continue to work safely in Afghanistan.
But the bulk of the 10,000 troops would advise and train the Afghan military and provide force protection for bases around the country that would be used by the military, diplomats and spies.
Gen. Dunford expects NATO members and other countries to contribute between 2,000 and 3,000 troops to the post-2014 mission, US officials told The Wall Street Journal.
But the White House insisted Obama has not taken any decision in this regard so far, and asserted President Karzai government needs to sign the bilateral security agreement promptly.
“The President (Obama) has not yet made decisions about final troop numbers and I'm not going to discuss the details of our ongoing deliberations,” Caitlin Hayden, the National Security Council spokesman at the White House, told Pajhwok Afghan News.
She said they would be weighing inputs from their military commanders, intelligence community, diplomats and development experts while making decisions on a post-2014 presence in Afghanistan.
Earlier she told reporters that without a bilateral security agreement, they would initiate planning for a post-2014 future in which there would be no US or NATO troop presence in Afghanistan.
“That is not a future we are seeking, and we do not believe that it is in Afghanistan’s interests.” “The further this slips into 2014, however, the more likely such an outcome is,” Hayden added. Decisions have to be made soon, she said, about issues like base closings and force levels. (Pajhwok)