US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said on Sunday that accelerating troop withdrawals from Afghanistan because of Osama bin Laden’s death would be “premature”. Gates, in an interview with CBS news show “60 Minutes”, said it was too early to consider speeding the pace of withdrawal. Skeptics have seized on bin Laden’s demise to argue that there is no reason to keep so many troops in Afghanistan in a war originally launched after the September 11 attacks to prevent al-Qaeda from using the country as a sanctuary.
They point to military estimates that only about 200 al Qaeda operatives are left in the country, while a NATO-led force has swelled to more than 140,000. Gates, who is retiring June 30 after four and a half years on the job, said bin Laden’s death could be a “game changer” in the war in Afghanistan.
