...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A collection of multinational and multilingual and multicultural armed forces, all of differing capabilities, working toward a common goal by pulling in different directions...
's combat mission ends in December -- or else pull out all American forces, a U.S. official said Wednesday.
The commander of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan, General Joseph Dunford, presented the option last week to the White House, which is weighing the proposal, the official said, confirming reports in the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times
...which still proudly displays Walter Duranty's Pulitzer prize...
.
"It's fair to say that the intelligence community, the State Department, the Pentagon, all believe that if we're going to have a footprint in Afghanistan after 2014, it should be about that number," said the official, referring to the 10,000 troop level.
"If that can't be, we also believe it would be most prudent to have nothing," the official told Agence La Belle France Presse, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The option being debated by the White House also calls for a short stay for the proposed post-2014 force, which would be scaled back and withdrawn within two years, the official said.
Such a scenario would allow Obama to tout the end of the longest U.S. war by the time he leaves office in January 2017. But the move could prompt accusations of an irresponsible retreat after repeated vows by Washington to maintain an enduring presence in Afghanistan.
Any future force after December still hinges on Afghanistan's Caped President Hamid
Maybe I'll join the TalibanKarzai
... A former Baltimore restaurateur, now 12th and current President of Afghanistan, displacing the legitimate president Rabbani in December 2004. He was installed as the dominant political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001 in a vain attempt to put a
Pashtunface on the successor state to the Taliban. After the 2004 presidential election, he was declared president regardless of what the actual vote count was. He won a second, even more dubious, five-year-term after the 2009 presidential election. His grip on reality has been slipping steadily since around 2007, probably from heavy drug use...
signing a bilateral security agreement between the two countries, which lays out a legal framework for a U.S. military presence beyond 2014. Karzai has so far refused to sign the deal.
The proposed security pact with Afghanistan would allow for U.S. troops to stay through 2024.
Under the Pentagon proposal, U.S. commanders hope the 10,000 U.S. troops would be joined by 2,000-3,000 forces from other NATO countries, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Military commanders have reportedly told the White House that if Obama rejects the 10,000 troop option, then all American forces should be withdrawn as a smaller force would be unable to provide security for intelligence officers and diplomats.
Vice President
Joe Foreign Policy Whiz KidBiden
The former Senator-for-Life from Delaware, an example of the kind of top-notch Washington intellect to be found in the World's Greatest Deliberative Body...
, known for his long-running opposition to a large military presence in Afghanistan, is believed to favor a contingent of less than 10,000, comprised mainly of special operations forces.