U.S. reducing plans for large civilian force in post-2014 Afghanistan

[unhappycamper]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/us-reducing-plans-for-large-civilian-force-in-post-2014-afghanistan/2012/12/05/67c7d9a8-380f-11e2-8a97-363b0f9a0ab3_story.html?hpid=z1




U.S. reducing plans for large civilian force in post-2014 Afghanistan
By Karen DeYoung, Published: December 5

The Obama administration has ordered significant cutbacks in initial plans for a robust U.S. civilian presence in Afghanistan after U.S. combat troops withdraw two years from now, according to U.S. officials.

Learning from Iraq, where postwar ambitions proved unsustainable, the White House and top State Department officials are confronting whether the United States needs — and can protect — a large diplomatic compound in Kabul, four consulates around the country and other civilian outposts to oversee aid projects and monitor Afghanistan’s political pulse.

Planners were recently told to reduce personnel proposals by at least 20 percent, a senior administration official said. Projects once considered crucial are being divided into lists of those considered sustainable and those that will not be continued.

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Last month, the administration began what is likely to be a year-long negotiation with the Afghan government over how many troops the U.S. military will leave behind when combat ends in 2014. A key sticking point is whether remaining troops will be subject to Afghan law, which doomed similar talks with Iraq last year.