Army General John Campbell said in an interview with USA Today that maintaining the current force of 9,800 US troops to train Afghan forces and conduct counter-terrorism raids is vital, and that a scheduled reduction to 5,500 by January 1, 2017, should be put off as long as possible.
"My intent would be to keep as much as I could for as long as I could," Campbell said by telephone from Kabul. "At some point it becomes physics. I'm going to have to get them out."
Since the US military handed over the lead to Afghan security forces earlier this year, "the overall security situation in Afghanistan deteriorated with an increase in effective insurgent attacks and higher (Afghan security force) and Taliban casualties," according to the Pentagon’s security assessment of the country for this year.
Campbell will be in Washington to brief senior leaders on the security situation in Afghanistan and troop levels required for their missions. He declined to offer specifics on his recommendations, saying they were classified.
"Some of them will not go over well with people," Campbell told USA Today. "Some of them will get approved."
In October, President Barack Obama announced that he was scrapping his plan to withdraw all but embassy personnel by the end of 2016. Instead, 9,800 US troops will remain through most of 2016. After that, a residual force of 5,500 will be a key part in a counter-terrorism network stretching west into Africa, Obama said.
Regardless of Obama's plan, Campbell said he would not hesitate to ask for more troops for Afghanistan. if necessary. He has commanded all NATO forces in the country since August 2014.
"My job as commander on the ground is to continually make assessments," Campbell said. "Every time I've gone to the president and said, 'I need X,' I've been very, very fortunate that he's provided that. So he's been very flexible. It's actually been conditions based as we've gone forward."
"If I don't believe that we can accomplish the train, advise and assist and the (counter-terrorism) missions, then I owe it to the senior leadership to come back and say, 'Here's what I need.' If that's more people, it's more people."
