US mulls quicker Afghan pullout

underscored by recent US setbacks in Afghanistan, including violent protests by Afghans over the burning of copies of the Koran by NATO troops last month and the shooting rampage apparently by a US soldier that killed 16 Afghan civilians last weekend, the report said.
Nearly 90 000 US troops are currently stationed in Afghanistan, with 22 000 of them due home by September.
There has been no schedule set for the withdrawal of the remaining 68 000, though the president has set 2014 as the deadline for pulling out all troops and handing over security responsibility to Afghan forces.  
At least three options are now under consideration, the report quoted officials at the White House, the Pentagon and the State Department as saying.
One plan, backed by National Security Adviser Thomas Donilon, would be to withdraw at least 10 000 more troops by the end of December and then 10 000 to 20 000 more by June 2013.  
Vice President Joe Biden, who has long favoured a more narrowly focused counter-terrorism mission in Afghanistan, supports a bigger withdrawal that would reduce the bulk of the troops around the same time the mission shifts to a support role, leaving behind Special Operations teams to conduct targeted raids.
Obama’s military commanders, meanwhile, want to maintain troops in Afghanistan as long as possible. If cuts have to be made, the commanders favour making them at the end of 2013, after the fighting season is largely finished.
The weekend shooting spree has raised speculation of an expedited US withdrawal, though Barack Obama and Defence Secretary Leon Panetta insist the incident will not change the US strategy in Afghanistan.
In an interview broadcast Monday, Obama warned against “a rush for the exits” in Afghanistan. “It’s important for us to make sure that we get out in a responsible way, so that we don’t end up having to go back in,” he said.
Panetta told reporters Monday that the recent tragic events in Afghanistan should not derail the overall International Security Assistance Force objectives. “We cannot allow these events to undermine our strategy,” he said.
The Pentagon was awaiting plans from Gen John Allen, commander of US and NATO forces in Afghanistan, to bring home the remaining 23 000 troops sent to Afghanistan during the 2009 surge, the Pentagon chief said yesterday, adding that the administration would review those plans when they were completed.
In a related development, Russia yesterday called the shooting of 16 Afghan villagers by a US soldier one of the worst crimes ever committed during a conflict and said it expected the guilty to be punished severely.
“This inhumane act stands side by side with the gravest crimes committed in the course of armed conflicts,” the foreign ministry said in a statement, adding that Russia was “deeply shocked”.
“We expect the guilty to suffer severe punishment and the international forces’ command to take effective measures aimed at preventing such incidents in the future.” Russia, which has its own painful Soviet-era history in Afghanistan, fears a more permanent US presence in the energy-rich central Asian region and has only allowed non-combat equipment to cross its territory for NATO forces there. — Xinhua/AFP.