Obama Likely To Cut 10,000 Troops From Afghanistan

WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama is expected to withdraw roughly 10,000 US troops from Afghanistan this year, with about 5,000 forces leaving this summer and an additional 5,000 Americans coming home by the end of the year, a senior US defense official said on Tuesday.

Obama is also weighing a timetable for recalling the 20,000 other troops he ordered to Afghanistan as part of his December 2009 decision to send reinforcements to reverse the Taliban's battlefield momentum. The official spoke on condition of anonymity in order to discuss the plans before Obama's formal announcement.

The White House said Obama would address the nation from the White House at 8 pm Wednesday.

Ahead of that announcement, Obama called defense secretary Robert Gates and secretary of state Hillary Clinton to the White House on Tuesday for an Afghanistan strategy session. Aides have said Obama wants to ensure that the drawdown set to begin next month puts the US on a path toward giving Afghans control of their own security by 2014.

A reduction this year totalling 10,000 troops would be the rough equivalent of two brigades, which are the main building blocks of an Army division. It's not clear whether Obama's decision would require the Pentagon to pull out two full brigades or, instead, a collection of smaller combat and support units with an equivalent number of troops.