US may delay closure of two Afghan bases

The U.S. military bases in Kandahar and Jalalabad are likely to remain open beyond the end of 2015, a senior U.S. official said, as Washington considers slowing its military pullout from Afghanistan to help the new government fight the Taliban, reported Reuters on Wednesday.

The anticipated policy reversal reflects the U.S. embrace of Afghanistan's new and more cooperative president, Ashraf Ghani, and a desire to avoid the kind of collapse of local security forces that occurred in Iraq after the U.S. pullout there.

It coincides with new efforts backed by Pakistan and China for peace talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban. Washington has welcomed greater engagement by China, which has helped create a diplomatic opening for reconciliation.

The U.S. official said conditions had changed since May when President Barack Obama declared that by the end of 2015 the U.S. force would be roughly halved from the current total of about 10,000 and would operate only from bases in Kabul and Bagram.

The White House had no immediate comment on the possibility of maintaining the Kandahar and Jalalabad bases into next year.

Obama is expected to decide in the next few days whether to slow the pace of the U.S. troop withdrawal, possibly by next week when Ghani and Afghan Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah travel to Washington.

U.S. officials hope the visit will garner American public support for a longer military mission and display a contrast to their prickly dealings with former president Hamid Karzai.

Ghani is getting a warm welcome. He meets the secretaries of state, defense and treasury at the Camp David presidential retreat on Monday, lunches with Obama at the White House on Tuesday, and speaks to a joint session of Congress on Wednesday.

Ghani wants Obama to reconsider his timetable to withdraw U.S. forces from Afghanistan, making his case in the media as well as in private with U.S. officials.

"Being responsive to President Ghani's request for flexibility is an important part of the visit," said a senior administration official on condition of anonymity, adding that when Ghani flew home "I don't think he'll feel empty-handed."

The U.S. strategy in Afghanistan hinges on the ability of Afghan forces to secure the country despite a resilient Taliban insurgency and the Obama administration has signaled it is willing to consider adjusting its withdrawal plans.

U.S. officials said the White House is focused on how much Obama might slow the planned withdrawal of most U.S. troops over the next two years and that there was no discussion, for now, of changing the U.S. presence beyond that currently planned in 2017.

Obama said last May the U.S. military would draw down to a "normal embassy presence" with security assistance by the end of 2016. What constitutes a "normal embassy presence" is ambiguous, giving the president some leeway on the footprint after 2017.

"No one's really talking about anything beyond 2016. Most of the discussion has been about the slope of the curve over the course of 2015 and 2016 to be able to kind of optimize the chances of success" for Ghani, said a second U.S. official.

This official said that Washington had gently urged Ghani not to ask for too much, meaning for a significant extension of the U.S. military mission beyond 2016.

The first senior administration official, however, suggested that the U.S. military might maintain an aerial capacity beyond 2017, a possibility that could allow it to conduct air strikes, rescue Afghan forces under threat and evacuate their wounded.

The two bases are crucial to the Pentagon because the U.S. military uses them to train, advise and assist senior Afghan commanders in charge of some of the Afghan army's six corps as well as Afghan special operations forces.

Kandahar in southern Afghanistan is also vital for the embryonic Afghan air force and supports smaller bases in the Taliban heartland.

Jalalabad, to Kabul's southeast, is the main base facing Taliban and other armed groups that enjoy safe haven in Pakistan, which sees them as a way to maintain influence in Afghanistan. Washington does not disclose the number of U.S. troops at each of its remaining bases in Afghanistan.

Reuters