WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama will move the United States a step closer to ending the war in Afghanistan today when he announces plans to bring thousands of American troops home beginning next month. Administration officials said the president was still in the final phase of a decision-making process that has focused not only on how many troops will come home in July, but also on a broader withdrawal blueprint designed to put the US on a path toward giving Afghans control of their security by 2014. Obama was given a range of options for the withdrawal last week by Gen. David Petraeus, the top US and NATO commander in Afghanistan. The military favors a gradual reduction in troops but other advisers are advocating a significant decrease in the coming months. While the president has said he favors a significant withdrawal, his advisers have not quantified that statement. Obama is expected to make today's announcement in Washington. While much of the attention is focused on how many troops will leave Afghanistan next month, the more telling aspects of Obama's decision center on what happens after July, particularly how long the president plans to keep the 30,000 surge forces he sent to the country in 2009. There is a growing belief that the president must at least map out the initial withdrawal of the surge troops when he addresses the public. But whether those forces should come out over the next eight to 12 months or slowly trickle out over a longer time is hotly debated. Military commanders want to keep as many of those forces in Afghanistan for as long as possible, arguing that too fast a withdrawal could undermine the fragile security gains in the fight against the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan, the Al-Qaeda training ground for the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. There are also concerns about pulling out a substantial number of US forces as the heightened summer fighting season gets under way.
