WASHINGTON (AP) — If President Barack Obama were to decide to leave no military advisory force in Afghanistan next year, would Afghan security unravel to the point of enabling a civil war, a Taliban takeover and a return of al-Qaida in such numbers as to pose a 9/11-type threat?

That is the question at the core of the debate over Obama’s next move in a long-running standoff with the Afghans over a postwar presence.