Obama orders Pentagon to prepare for complete withdrawal from Afghanistan

[Sugarcane]

President Obama has ordered the Pentagon to begin preparing for a complete withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan by the end of this year, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel announced.

The order, Hagel said in a statement, came after Obama “determined that it is unlikely” that Afghan President Hamid Karzai will sign a long-delayed bilateral security agreement, “which would provide [Defense] personnel with critical protections and authorities after 2014.”

Hagel spoke after Obama telephoned Karzai on Tuesday morning with the same message. In its own statement, the White House said that because Karzai “has demonstrated” that he does not intend to sign, the Pentagon has been instructed “to ensure that it has adequate plans in place to accomplish an orderly withdrawal . . . should the United States not keep any troops in Afghanistan after 2014.”

Obama left the door open, however, for Karzai’s successor, to be chosen in April elections, to sign the agreement. “hould we have . . . a willing and committed partner in the Afghan government,” the White House said Obama told Karzai, a “limited” training and counterterrorism force would be in the interests of both countries.

But “the longer we go without a BSA,” as the agreement is called, “the more likely it will be that any post-2014 U.S. mission will be smaller in scale and mission,” the White House said.

Obama has not decided how many troops he is willing to leave in Afghanistan after the full combat withdrawal scheduled to be completed by the end of December. Options under consideration include 10,000, together with 5,000 NATO and other international troops, to remain until the end of 2015 at bases around Afghanistan; a somewhat smaller number, based primarily in Kabul, with the ability to travel around the country as needed; 3,000 U.S. troops restricted to bases in Kabul and Bagram; and complete withdrawal.

Hagel had told NATO partners late last year that he expected Karzai to sign the document by this week’s NATO defense ministers meeting.

NATO foreign ministers, who have said they will leave no forces behind without a robust U.S. presence, will likely reinforce those views when Hagel meets with them in Brussels on Wednesday.

The military has made clear its strong preference for the 10,000 option, as have the State Department and the CIA.

“We were not actively planning for a complete withdrawal,” said Rear Adm. John F.Kirby, a Pentagon spokesman. “And now we will.”

Obama orders Pentagon to prepare for complete withdrawal from Afghanistan - The Washington Post

 

[Sugarcane]

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama has ordered the Pentagon to plan for a full American withdrawal from Afghanistan by the end of this year should the Afghan government refuse to sign a security agreement with the U.S, the White House said Tuesday.

However, in a call with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, Obama also said the U.S. could still keep a limited troop presence in Afghanistan after 2014 if the agreement is ultimately signed. He acknowledged that Karzai was unlikely to sign the bilateral security agreement himself, leaving the fate of the continued U.S. troop presence in Afghanistan to the winner of the country's April elections.

"We will leave open the possibility of concluding a BSA with Afghanistan later this year," the White House said in a summary of the call between the two leaders. However, the White House added that "the longer we go without a BSA, the more likely it will be that any post-2014 U.S. mission will be smaller in scale and ambition."

Tuesday's call was the first direct contact between Obama and Karzai since last June, underscoring the White House's frustration with the Afghan leader's refusal to sign the security agreement. The pact would give the U.S. a legal basis for having forces in Afghanistan after 2014, and also allow it to use bases across the country.

The White House has repeatedly said it would not leave American troops in Afghanistan without the agreement.

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel called Obama's order to the Pentagon "a prudent step" given the likelihood that Karzai will not sign an agreement. However, he said the Pentagon would also continue to make plans for a possible U.S. mission in Afghanistan after this year, which would focus on counterterrorism and training Afghan security forces.

The Pentagon has long had contingency plans for multiple options in Afghanistan. However, Navy Rear Adm. John Kirby said Tuesday that until now, the military was "not actively planning for a complete withdrawal."

"Now we will," the Pentagon press secretary said.

Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey was traveling to Afghanistan Thursday to visit U.S. military leaders in the country and assess the security situation. Dempsey said he continues to prefer keeping an American troop presence in the country because of the continued threat of al-Qaida, but said the options for doing so "are far more constrained than we're currently recommending."

Obama has been weighing options from the Pentagon that would keep as many as 10,000 troops in the country after this year, contingent on the security agreement. However, some White House officials are believed to support keeping a smaller troop presence.

The U.S. currently has about 33,600 troops in Afghanistan, down from a high of 100,000 in 2010.

The longer the decision takes, the more expensive and risky the troop drawdown will become. With less time to move troops and equipment, the military will have to fly assets out rather than use cheaper ground transportation.

If the security pact is never signed, the Pentagon's biggest challenge will be closing large military facilities, including the Bagram and Kandahar air bases. Shutting down a massive base typically it takes about 10 months, but military officials said they are prepared to do it in a much shorter — although far more expensive — period if necessary. Military officials said commanders would still like to have about six months to shut the facilities down. If there is no security agreement by late summer, the officials said closing the bases by the end of the year becomes far more difficult.

Obama tells Pentagon to plan for Afghan pullout

 

[dray]

Bad news for Afghanistan, bad news for Karzai, and bad news for Pakistan!

Now they all are on their own.

 

[PWFI]

Bad news for Afghanistan, bad news for Karzai, and bad news for Pakistan!

Now they all are on their own.

How it's bad news for pakistan.
Correction Bad news for Afghanistan, bad news for Karzai, and bad news for INDIA!

 

[dray]

How it's bad news for pakistan.
Correction Bad news for Afghanistan, bad news for Karzai, and bad news for INDIA!

That you will realize in time to come.

We don't share border with Afghanistan, you do.

 

[Imran Khan]

only plan ehhhh just for make karzai pant wet . they will must stay in after 2014 don't worry .

 

[PWFI]

That you will realize in time.

We don't share border with Afghanistan, you do.

The bold part is for you
But you have invest heavly in afganistan, and if the news is true: "astala vista india from afghanistan". And pakistan will eliminate TTP more easily with the help of afghan talibans, since they won't have any save heaven in afghanistan anymore

 

[BATMAN]

Bad news for Afghanistan, bad news for Karzai, and bad news for Pakistan!
Now they all are on their own.

US will not leave Pakistan, it will continue to stick around.

 

[SouthDesi]

US will not leave Pakistan, it will continue to stick around.

Reason?

 

[Jaggu]

How it's bad news for pakistan.
Correction Bad news for Afghanistan, bad news for Karzai, and bad news for INDIA!

It's bad news for both Pakistan and India. Once US pulls out, the real civil war will begin and if Taliban take over, they will not stop there. It will embolden the Taliban fighters in Pakistan who will also try to take over the country. Likewise for India it will be bad news because many Jihadis in that part of the world fully believe in Ghazwa e Hind. Even for China and surrounding countries this would mean bad news.

 

[Beidou2020]

Great news. No more Yankees raping women and children.

 

[Pakistanisage]

U.S. 'nowhere near' decision to pull all troops out of Afghanistan
By Missy Ryan

WASHINGTON Tue Dec 10, 2013 6:32pm EST

A U.S. Army soldier with Charlie Company, 36th Infantry Regiment, 1st Armored Division sets up at a supportive position during a mission near Command Outpost Pa'in Kalay in Maiwand District, Kandahar Province, February 3, 2013.

Credit: Reuters/Andrew Burton


(Reuters) - The Obama administration is 'nowhere near' deciding to pull out all troops from Afghanistan at the end of 2014, a top U.S. official said on Tuesday, despite mounting frustration President Hamid Karzai has not signed a security deal allowing the military to remain there after next year.
"I have no doubt that the (bilateral security agreement with Afghanistan) ultimately will be concluded," Ambassador James Dobbins, U.S. Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, told the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

While Dobbins said that an ongoing delay to finalizing the deal - which U.S. officials had hoped Karzai would sign weeks ago - would impose "damages and costs" on Afghans, he said the Obama administration was not on the verge of abandoning its effort to extend its troop presence.

"We're nowhere near a decision that would involve our departing Afghanistan altogether," he said.

The administration has been urging Karzai to sign the bilateral security agreement (BSA) it negotiated with Karzai's government, which would permit it to keep troops in Afghanistan beyond the end of 2014 to support Afghan forces and conduct limited counterterrorism activities.

After Afghan elders and politicians endorsed the pact last month, Karzai surprised Washington by introducing new conditions for his signature.

If no deal can be finalized, Washington says it will withdraw its entire force of 47,000 troops in a little over a year. Other NATO nations are likely to follow suit.

The absence of foreign troops would likely dampen donor nations' willingness to fund Afghan troops and provide civilian aid.

"My judgment is no troops, no aid, or almost no aid," Dobbins said. If security conditions were to worsen sharply, he said, United States could conceivably even close its embassy in Kabul.

There are fears that the Taliban and other militants ultimately could regain strength, the central government could founder, and Afghanistan be plunged anew into civil war.

The possibility of a full withdrawal of foreign forces is already having a dangerous impact on Afghanistan, Dobbins said, as people pull money out of the country, property prices fall and the Afghan currency slips in value.

Larry Sampler, a senior official at the U.S. Agency for International Development, told senators that it would be more difficult to find ways to carry out promised civilian assistance for impoverished Afghanistan without a security deal and a foreign troop presence.

'COLONIAL' PRESSURE

As U.S. frustrations with Karzai become increasingly public, U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel made a surprise visit to Kabul last weekend. But in an unusual move, he did not meet with Karzai.

In an interview with French newspaper Le Monde, Karzai accused the United States of applying 'colonial' pressure on him to sign the pact and said Dobbins suggested during a recent visit to Kabul that without a security agreement there would be no peace.

The Obama administration has not yet said precisely how many troops it would leave in Afghanistan after 2014 if a deal is finalized that would fight a Taliban that remains a potent, if diminished, force,

Senator John McCain, a Republican, pressed Dobbins for clarity on how many soldiers would be left in Afghanistan post-2014, and said announcing future troops levels might persuade Karzai to sign.

"By not doing so you're making a very, very serious mistake," McCain said.

He said the Obama administration risked repeating the course of events in Iraq, where U.S. officials halted efforts to seal a security deal with Iraq in late 2011, prompting the full withdrawal of U.S. troops at the end of that year.

Violence in Iraq is now at its highest level in at least five years, and more than 8,000 people have been killed this year, the United Nations says.

(Editing by Philip Barbara)





U.S. 'nowhere near' decision to pull all troops out of Afghanistan| Reuters






A lot have changed in just three months......

 

[Hyperion]

Isn't this going to be fun...... Northern Alliance........ get ready to tango!

 

[Dubious]

A lot have changed in just three months......

they sound bipolar....either the journalists are goofing around or they really are having some hard time deciding ....

 

[Pakistanisage]

they sound bipolar....either the journalists are goofing around or they really are having some hard time deciding ....

They are stuck between a rock and a hard place.....