U.S. to reduce forces in Afghanistan in '06

WASHINGTON — U.S. troop levels in Afghanistan will be reduced by about 3,500 next spring, thanks to increased NATO forces and a growing Afghan army, the Pentagon said Tuesday.

The announcement, representing the first major reduction in U.S. troop strength there since late last year, launches what is expected to be a gradual decline in troop levels that will also include reductions in U.S. forces in Iraq.

Defense Department officials have said the Pentagon is expected to announce soon that the deployment of at least portions of two brigades scheduled to go to Iraq will be canceled.

Defense officials said Tuesday that the 4th Brigade, 10th Mountain Division will not go to Afghanistan in March as initially planned. Instead, one battalion-sized force will go to southern Afghanistan in mid-2006, to help in the transition of that region to NATO control, with the rest of the 4th Brigade ready to deploy if needed.

The reduction would bring U.S. troop levels in Afghanistan to about 16,500.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld signed the deployment orders Monday. He said senior commanders, including Gen. John Abizaid, the commander of U.S. Central Command, had recommended scaling back.

Rumsfeld said the reduction in U.S. forces in Afghanistan will mean a slight drop in the amount of normal security operations, such as road patrols. But it will not reduce the U.S. capacity to hunt for al-Qaida and Taliban fighters.

The changes were described earlier this month by Pentagon officials who requested anonymity because the plans were not finalized.

Troop levels in Afghanistan peaked at 20,300 in April 2004, dropped to about 16,500 by the end of last year, and then increased to about 20,000, earlier this year.

Rumsfeld doubts

in command

CHAKLALA AIR BASE, Pakistan — Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said he doubts that Osama bin Laden is in position to command the al-Qaida terror network.

Rumsfeld, who arrived today for an unannounced visit to Pakistan, said he found it interesting that bin Laden has not been heard from publicly in nearly a year.

"I don't know what it means," Rumsfeld told a group of reporters traveling with him. "I suspect that in any event, if he's alive and functioning that he's probably spending a major fraction of his time trying to avoid getting caught. I have trouble believing that he's able to operate sufficiently to be in a position of major command over a worldwide al-Qaida operation, but I could be wrong. We just don't know."