Defense Secretary Robert Gates suggested Sunday that only a small portion of the U.S. force in Afghanistan will begin to return home next year when an Obama administration deadline for a troop pullout goes into effect.
His comments came on the same day the Netherlands became the first NATO country to end its combat mission in Afghanistan.
“Drawdowns early on will be of fairly limited numbers,” Gates said in an interview Sunday on ABC News’ “This Week.” “It will depend on the conditions on the ground.”
In calling for a surge of troops in the region, President Barack Obama set July 2011 as the time when the Pentagon would begin to reduce forces, ostensibly with Afghanistan more secure from the threat of the Taliban.
The U.S. will have more than 100,000 troops in Afghanistan by the end of this summer. Gates said Sunday that the rate of the withdrawal will depend on the security conditions in the country, and he expected the pace to increase as conditions improve.
“I think we need to re-emphasize the message that we are not leaving Afghanistan in July of 2011. We are beginning a transition process,” Gates said.
Gates’ view was seemingly at odds with that of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. Asked on “This Week” whether the drawdown of forces would be limited to a few thousand troops, Pelosi said: “Well, I hope it is more than that. I know it’s not going to be, ‘Turn out the lights and let’s all go home on one day.’ But I do think the American people expect it to be somewhere between that and a — a few thousand troops.”
Also Sunday, the Netherlands drew the curtain on a four-year operation that was deeply unpopular at home.
The Dutch departure was sealed after Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende’s government collapsed earlier this year over disagreement among coalition members on whether to keep troops in Afghanistan longer..
Twenty-four Dutch soldiers have died in Afghanistan since the mission began in 2006.
Canada has announced it will withdraw its 2,700 troops in 2011 and Poland has said it will pull out its 2,600 soldiers the year after.
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