WASHINGTON (AP) - Military commanders did not recommend that the White House announce the complete withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan in 2017 as the president ordered, the top U.S. commander there told senators Thursday.
Marine Gen. Joseph Dunford said U.S. and Afghan military leaders would have preferred to see American officials be "a bit more ambiguous" about the troop numbers for 2017, and not telegraph to the enemy that international forces would leave.
Speaking before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Dunford laid out a sober assessment of the Afghan security forces, saying there will still be critical aviation and intelligence-gathering gaps in their ability to conduct counterterrorism operations in 2016. He said the current plan requires U.S. forces to shift to Kabul in 2016, significantly reducing U.S. ability to assist in the counterterror fight.
He said if the U.S. decides more help is needed in 2016, officials will have to start discussing that a year from now in order to have American special operations forces available beyond Kabul to assist in that fight.
Dunford has been nominated to be the next commandant of the Marine Corps and was testifying at his nomination hearing.
President Barack Obama ordered the U.S. to withdraw all but nearly 10,000 troops by the end of 2014, cut that number in half by the end of 2015, and leave only about 1,000 in a security office after the end of 2016.
Dunford told the panel that he agrees with the pace of the U.S. withdrawal this year and next year. But, under questioning from Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., he said he and other military leaders did not recommend "a hard date" for the full withdrawal at the end of 2016.