KANDAHAR: US Defence Secretary Ash Carter on Sunday called Afghanistan’s army “a powerful force in their own right” but declined to say whether he thinks the US can scale back military training and advising this year as planned.

Carter wrapped up two days in the war zone by consulting with US and Afghan commanders at Kandahar air field, an important hub in the network of US advisory posts that are due to close before year’s end.

In a question-and-answer session with reporters at this base in southern Afghanistan, Carter declined to say whether his visit had convinced him that the Kandahar operation should stay open longer.

The advisory work here will wind up this summer unless President Barack Obama alters his plan for ending the US military presence. “I’m not prepared to share conclusions except with him, when I reach them,” Carter said.

He said he was impressed by progress in professionalising the Afghan army and police. “The Afghan security forces have become a powerful force in their own right, and good partners in their own way,” he said.

Carter, who started as Pentagon chief just last week, is preparing recommendations to Obama about the future of the American military presence in Afghanistan.

On Saturday, Carter Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and said afterward that Obama is considering whether to slow the pace of US troop withdrawals this year and next.

The US now has about 10,000 troops in Afghanistan, including about 2,000 training and advising in Kandahar. On Monday, Carter was convening a meeting in Kuwait of US military commanders, intelligence officials and diplomats for what his aides billed as a free-wheeling discussion of the strengths and weaknesses of the Obama administration’s strategy for countering the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria.

Carter intends to examine the intellectual underpinnings of the strategy against IS, including the bombing campaigns and their connection to broader political and regional goals, a senior defence official said.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss Carter’s internal planning.Rear Adm. John Kirby, the Pentagon press secretary, said among those expected to attend the conference are US ambassadors from Jordan and elsewhere in the Mideast, the top US commanders from Europe, Africa and the Mideast and special operations force leaders.

US commanders are known to prefer to keep the Kandahar operation open at least through the peak fighting season this summer. Current plans call for it to wind down before summer’s end in order to have the entire US presence at Kandahar out by December.

Earlier, Carter addressed a gathering of about 100 US soldiers at Kandahar and thanked them for their work with the Afghan army.

He said their advisory effort “is now becoming the heart of” the US military mission in Afghanistan, which also includes hunting down remnants of Al Qaeda.

Carter made clear that whatever course of action he recommends to Obama, it will be based on the goal of preserving the security gains that have been achieved during 13 years of costly combat.

“When our presence here is reduced to something much smaller than today, we want to make sure that the Afghans themselves are able to preserve the environment which our forces have created over the last few years — one of relative security and stability,” he said.

Published in Dawn February 23rd , 2015

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