Pentagon says Afghanistan war plans still undecided
Posted By Kevin Baron
Monday, November 26, 2012 - 12:45 PM
The Pentagon, reacting to news that the White House wants to keep 10,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan beyond 2014 after combat formally ends, said no decisions have been made on either the drawdown to come or the force laydown to occur beyond the war’s end.
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has not made formal recommendations to the White House on either the pace of the drawdown until 2014 or the presence of U.S. troops in Afghanistan beyond, Pentagon press secretary George Little told reporters in his Monday morning on-the-record gaggle with reporters in his office.
“I’m not aware of a formal set of recommendations that has made its way from Gen. Allen to Secretary Panetta” on a post-2014 plan, Little said.
There was some confusion as to what Allen has recommended to Panetta at this point. Two weeks ago, while traveling through Australia, Panetta said he had received options for the Afghanistan war from Allen. Since then, Panetta ordered a DOD inspector general investigation into what Pentagon officials have said are up to 30,000 pages of emails that include inappropriately “flirtatious” exchanges between Allen and Jill Kelley, the civilian hostess for military events at Tampa’s Central Command, uncovered by the FBI investigation into Gen. David Petraeus’ admitted affair.
http://e-ring.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2012/11/26/pentagon_says_afghanistan_war_plans_still_undecided
