Pentagon chief: US mulls shift in Afghan pullout

President Obama is considering changes to the timetable for withdrawing U.S. troops from Afghanistan, Secretary of Defense Ash Carter said Saturday. 

Carter is in Afghanistan on his first trip there as Pentagon chie, after being sworn in this week. He spoke of progress that has been made in the country. 

"Our priority now is to make sure this progress sticks," Carter said at a press conference with President Ashraf Ghani, according to Reuters. 

"That is why President Obama is considering a number of options to reinforce our support for President Ghani's security strategy, including possible changes to the timeline for our drawdown of U.S. troops," he added.

While the U.S. combat mission technically ended at the end of last year, there are around 10,000 U.S. troops still in the country. The current plan is to about halve that number by the end of the year, before almost all return home by the end of 2016.

Congressional Republicans have been critical of the withdrawal plan, pointing to the gains made by Islamic militants after U.S. troops withdrew from Iraq as a cautionary tale.

The troops there now are helping to train Afghan forces and carrying out a counterterrorism mission. Carter said that the details of that effort could change.

"We are discussing and rethinking the details of the counter-terrorism mission and how the environment has changed here with respect to terrorism, since we first laid out our plans," he said.

A power-sharing agreement between rival presidential candidates Ghani and Abdullah Abdullah last year has helped pave the way for progress, Carter said. Former President Hamid Karzai had clashed with the U.S.

"That's a major change," Carter said, according to the Associated Press, "... that just a few months ago we couldn't have planned on."   Read More at Pentagon chief: US mulls shift in Afghan pullout

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