Obama cuts Afghan war funding request

WASHINGTON (PAN and other foreign operations, a White House official said.

National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden said the president had sent a letter to Congress, seeking $79.4 billion for overseas contingency operations in 2014.

Amid plans for drawing down American soldiers in the war-torn country, Obama had urged lawmakers to approve $88.5 billion. The cut indicates those drawdown plans are on track.

Caitlin Hayden said: “The president is still reviewing options from his national security team and has not made a decision about the size of a possible US presence after 2014.”

Also on Friday, Senator Carl Levin said the United States might keep a force of 6,000 to 12,000 troops in Afghanistan after 2014. “We are planning to keep a force of perhaps 6,000 to 12,000 after 2014 when all combat forces are to be out of Afghanistan.”

A final decision in this regard is to be taken by President Barack Obama. He has not taken any decision so far, according to Levin, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

During a Congressional hearing, he said: “Almost 12 years later now, the war in Afghanistan is winding down as we prepare to hand over security responsibility to Afghan forces, and it appears that that country no longer serves as a safe haven for al-Qaida attacks against the US.”

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