Pentagon ordered to prepare for full Afghan withdrawal

WASHINGTON — U.S. President Barack Obama has ordered the Pentagon to begin preparing for a complete withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan by the end of this year, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel announced.

The order, Hagel said in a statement, came after Obama “determined that it is unlikely” that Afghanistan’s President Hamid Karzai will sign a long-delayed bilateral security agreement, “which would provide Defense personnel with critical protections and authorities after 2014.”

Hagel spoke after Obama telephoned Karzai on Tuesday morning with the same message. In its own statement, the White House said that because Karzai “has demonstrated” that he does not intend to sign, the Pentagon has been instructed “to ensure that it has adequate plans in place to accomplish an orderly withdrawal . . . should the United States not keep any troops in Afghanistan after 2014.”

Obama left the door open, however, for Karzai’s successor, to be chosen in April elections, to sign the agreement. “Should we have . . . a willing and committed partner in the Afghan government,” the White House said Obama told Karzai, a “limited” training and counterterrorism force would be in the interests of both countries.

But “the longer we go without a BSA,” as the agreement is called,

“the more likely it will be that any post-2014 U.S. mission will be smaller in scale and mission,” the White House said.

Obama has not decided how many troops he is willing to leave in Afghanistan after the full combat withdrawal scheduled to be completed by the end of December. Options under consideration include 10,000, together with 5,000 NATO and other international troops, to remain until the end of 2015 at bases around Afghanistan; a somewhat smaller number, based primarily in Kabul, with the ability to travel around the country as needed; 3,000 U.S. troops restricted to bas- es in Kabul and Bagram; and complete withdrawal.

Hagel had told NATO partners late last year that he expected Karzai to sign the document by this week’s NATO defense ministers meeting.

NATO foreign ministers, who have said they will leave no forces behind without a robust U.S. presence, will likely reinforce those views when Hagel meets with them in Brussels on Wednesday.

The military has made clear its strong preference for the 10,000 option, as have the State Department and the CIA.

“We were not actively planning for a complete withdrawal,” said Rear Adm. John Kirby, a Pentagon spokesman. “And now we will.”