The US commander of international forces in Afghanistan on Tuesday said he would make a recommendation of how many American troops should remain in Afghanistan after he saw how well Afghan security handled the summer fighting season.
“We need to see how the Afghans do in their first summer in the lead, and make an assessment in November 2013,” Marine Corps General Joseph Dunford told a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing.
He said other variables such as the state of the enemy and Afghanistan’s political transition would also inform his decision.
Dunford stressed repeatedly that the US could not make a troop commitment until it had signed a bilateral security agreement with the Afghan government. Washington and Kabul had been negotiating such a pact, which would address the relationship of the two countries for years to come.