The military is preparing for the likelihood that its drawdown in Afghanistan will be extended, leaving a greater number of troops in the country longer to give additional support to the new government in Kabul.
House Armed Services Committee chairman Rep. Mac Thornberry, R-Texas, told reporters Thursday that Afghan President Ashraf Ghani spoke with him earlier this month and asked for U.S. troop levels to remain level, according to reports.
In a joint press conference in Kabul last weekend with Ghani, brand-new U.S. Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said the U.S. is “considering a number of options to re-enforce our support for President Ghani’s security strategy, including possible changes to the timeline for our drawdown of U.S. troops.”
Ghani’s government is seen as more pro-U.S. than his predecessor’s, and in recent months the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, Gen. John Campbell has begun the groundwork to retain a large enough force in Afghanistan to give the new government continued support.
The Army still has an estimated $6 billion worth of equipment in Afghanistan and the majority of the more than 10,000 U.S. troops deployed there. The president’s fiscal year 2016 request, as expected, called for U.S. forces to reduce to 5,500 by the end of 2016.
Earlier this week Army Secretary John McHugh said that Campbell is continuing discussions on the rate and timing of the drawdown with the White House and national security staff.
“What General Campbell is discussing, with the national security staff, the president and others is not the end point … but rather what, if any changes to the ramp to that (end point) as to when troops come out.”
McHugh said the discussions are focused “on the fighting season,” and how a drawdown would be extended to not create vulnerabilities for the new government during the spring, when the Taliban have annually escalated their attacks.
