US senator wants 15,000 troops out of Afghanistan

WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama should withdraw a minimum of 15,000 U.S. troops from Afghanistan by the end of 2011, the chairman of the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee said on Tuesday.

"At least 15,000 by the end of this year. That's what I think would be considered significant," Senator Carl Levin, a Democrat, told reporters outside the Senate.

Obama said on Monday he will soon announce his decision on how many U.S. troops to withdraw from Afghanistan beginning in July to start a gradual pullout from that country.

The White House says Obama expects to receive a recommendation from his military commanders on the withdrawal, the start of a transition to Afghan security control scheduled to conclude in 2014.

Levin's suggestion appeared to put him at odds with the ranking Republican on his committee, Senator John McCain. McCain told a newspaper this week that he hopes Obama will withdraw no more than 3,000 troops starting in July.

If Obama decides on a faster pullout as a consequence of the killing of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden on May 2, some experts believe he could withdraw 5,000, a full brigade combat team.

"I think the public wants the president to make a significant reduction in troops in July as he said he would do a year and a half ago and reiterated about a month ago," Levin said. "It's a critically important issue -- both for our people and for the Afghan people, to make sure that they understand the importance of continuing to take added responsibility for their own security."

The United States has 100,000 troops in Afghanistan, a deployment that costs more than $110 billion a year.

Levin said he doubted Obama would make his announcement on troops "before a couple of weeks." "I hope it's significant, believe it will be, and it should include both combat and support troops," he said.

US to pull out warplanes, missiles from Libya mission

WASHINGTON: The US military is poised to withdraw its combat jets and Tomahawk missiles from the air campaign against Libya's regime, as NATO allies take the lead in bombing Moamer Kadhafi's forces.

With NATO taking charge of the coalition effort on Thursday, US officials confirmed Friday that American fighters, ground-attack aircraft and cruise missiles would be pulled out of the operation starting this weekend.

The move follows pledges by President Barack Obama to quickly shift the lead to allies in the NATO-led coalition, with the US military playing a supporting role -- providing planes for mid-air refueling, jamming and surveillance.

"As we transition to a support role, our focus will be on providing enabling capabilities and not on strike capabilities," a US defense official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told AFP.

Some lawmakers heavily criticized Obama over the decision at hearings on Thursday, saying NATO allies lacked ground-attack aircraft that were crucial against the Libyan regime's tanks and artillery.

In keeping with the handover, US sorties aimed at striking targets in Libya had also been scaled back in recent days.

American pilots flew only 10 out of 74 strike sorties in the past 24 hours up to 0800GMT Friday, the US defense official said.

US naval ships were also being gradually withdrawn from the seas off Libya and Tomahawk cruise missile attacks from American submarines had receded after an onslaught in the opening days of the operation.

No Tomahawk missiles had been launched in the past 24 hours, the official said.

Top US military officer Admiral Mike Mullen said the planes being withdrawn included the heavily-armed A-10 Thunderbolts and AC-130 gunships, both used to hit tanks and other ground targets.

Mullen said the combat aircraft would be on stand-by and could be ordered back to the mission if requested by the Canadian officer now leading the operation, Lieutenant General Charles Bouchard.

Some Republican lawmakers accused Obama of taking a half-hearted approach to the war, pulling out ground-attack aircraft just as opposition forces were on the retreat.

"Your timing is exquisite," Republican Senator John McCain told Mullen and Defense Secretary Robert Gates.

McCain, defeated by Obama in the 2008 presidential election, said that "withdrawing our unique offensive capabilities at this time sends the exact wrong signal both to our coalition partners as well as to the Kadhafi regime, especially to those Libyan officials whom we are trying to compel to break with Kadhafi."

Mullen said a US commander in the operation had assured him that allied aircraft were completely capable.

The commander "had a high level of confidence that they would be able to continue to execute this mission," Mullen said.