US to leave troops in Afghanistan after 2014, says German official

The US defence secretary, Leon Panetta, and his Nato counterparts are considering leaving 8,000 to 12,000 troops in Afghanistan after 2014, but a dispute arose on Friday between the US and Germany over whether the force would be international or purely American.

The conflicting accounts came as Nato defence ministers gathered in Brussels to discuss the endgame of the 11-year-old war. Barack Obama has said the last foreign combat troops will leave Afghanistan by the end of 2014.

The German defence minister, Thomas de Maizi?re, told reporters Panetta had told him at the meeting that the US would leave 8,000-10,000 troops in the country at the end of 2014. But Panetta, speaking to reporters later, called De Maizi?re's comments inaccurate.

Panetta, who is about to step down, told reporters the Nato partners talked about ranges of options for post-2014. He said the figures reflected contributions other nations would make.

"There's no question in the current budget environment, with deep cuts in European defence spending and the kind of political gridlock that we see in the United States now with regards to our own budget, is putting at risk our ability to effectively act together," he said. "As I prepare to step down as secretary of defence, I do fear that the alliance will soon be, if it is not already, stretched too thin."

US defence secretary Leon Panetta. Photograph: AP

His spokesman, George Little, said that the range for an international force was 8,000 to 12,000. "The reports that the US told allies that we are considering 8,000 to 12,000 US troops after 2014 are not correct," Little said. "A range of 8,000 to 12,000 troops was discussed as the possible size of the overall Nato mission, not the US contribution."

Little said Obama had not yet decided on the size of the post-2014 force. "We will continue to discuss with allies and the Afghans how we can best carry out two basic missions: targeting the remnants of al-Qaida and its affiliates, and training and equipping Afghan forces," he said.

Panetta said officials are planning to leave troops in all sectors of the country. Pentagon officials have said the military has mapped out plans to carry on training and advising the Afghan forces and also leave a small counterterrorism force to battle insurgents.

The Obama administration is considering a plan to maintain 352,000 Afghan troops for the next five years as part of an effort to maintain security and help convince Afghanistan that America and its allies will not abandon it once combat troops leave in 2014, senior alliance officials said on Thursday. Nato officials are also widely considering that option.

Such a change, if Nato endorses it, could increase the costs to the US and allies by more than $2bn a year, at a time when most are struggling with budget cuts and fiscal woes. Last May, Nato agreed to underwrite an Afghan force of about 230,000, at a cost of about $4.1bn a year after 2014. It costs about $6.5bn this year to fund the current Afghan force of 352,000, and the US is providing about $5.7bn of that.

Panetta said on Friday that he can defend that spending to Congress because it would give the US more flexibility and savings as it withdraws troops from Afghanistan.

Maintaining the larger troop strength could bolster the confidence of the Afghan forces and make it clear that Nato is committed to an enduring relationship with Afghanistan, a senior Nato official said.

In private meetings with other defence ministers, Panetta warned allies that Washington's fiscal impasse would have repercussions abroad, as impending budget cuts force the military to scale back its training and presence overseas.

Many of his meetings, however, centred on the plans to wind down the war in Afghanistan, including the withdrawal of 34,000 US troops over the next year and the transfer of security responsibilities to the Afghan forces.

According to an Obama administration official, the Pentagon plans to reduce the number of US forces in Afghanistan to about 60,500 by the end of May; then to 52,500 by November, keeping a relatively stable number of troops there during the peak fighting season. The sharpest cuts in US troop strength will come over the winter months as the remaining 20,500 leave after the main fighting season. There currently are about 66,000 US troops in Afghanistan.

Panetta acknowledged those ranges of numbers on Friday, but also added that the US would maintain the 34,000 through the Afghan elections, then withdraw the final combat troops toward the end of 2014.

The administration officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to discuss the numbers publicly.

This is Panetta's fifth visit to Brussels for a Nato meeting a trip he never intended to take. Expectations were that the defence secretary nominee, Chuck Hagel, a former Republican senator from Nebraska, would be confirmed by the Senate last week and he would travel to the meeting.

Hagel's nomination stalled, however, as it got caught up in senators' complaints about the attack in Benghazi, which left four Americans dead, including the ambassador. There are indications now that Hagel has support from enough senators to be confirmed next week. ___

Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/feb/22/us-troops-afghanistan

alex smith alex smith robert deniro mexico news the talented mr ripley weather new orleans orcl