The number of troops in Afghanistan may drop below 10,000 as the war comes to an end, the Obama administration said on Monday, according to Reuters.
Ten thousand is the minimum demanded by the U.S. military to train Afghan forces, Reuters reported. Since Afghanistan's general election on April 5, White House, State Department and Pentagon officials have resumed discussions on how many American troops should remain after the current U.S.-led coalition ends its mission this year.
"The discussion is very much alive. They're looking for additional options under 10,000" troops.
said one U.S. official who asked not to be identified, according to Reuters.
There are now about 33,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan, down from 100,000 in 2011, when troop numbers peaked a decade into a conflict originally intended to deny al Qaeda sanctuary in Afghanistan after the September 11, 2001, attacks, according to Reuters.
White House officials believe Afghan security forces are well trained enough for possibly less than 5,000 troops to remain in Afghanistan, according to Reuters. The small U.S. force that would remain could focus on counter-terrorism or training operations.
Officials say this belief is based partly on Afghanistan's surprisingly smooth election which took place on April 5 and won international praise for its high turnout, Reuters reported.
A smaller U.S. force could also have other unintended consequences and possibly discourage already skeptical lawmakers from fully funding U.S. commitments to help fund Afghan forces, according to Reuters,
At their current size, Afghan forces will cost at least $5 billion in 2015, a sum far beyond the reach of the Afghan government and the United States is expected to be the largest outside funder for those forces, Reuters reported.
