General: U.S. may cut Afghan force

The United States could cut its forces in Afghanistan in mid-2005 if Taliban militants accept an amnesty to be drawn up by President Hamid Karzai and neighboring Pakistan, the senior U.S. commander in the war-torn nation has said.Any reduction in the 18,000-strong mainly American combat force in Afghanistan would bring relief to the U.S. military, already stretched thin by the much larger deployment in Iraq. Still, the force is unlikely to shrink before parliamentary elections slated for April.”I think by next (northern hemisphere) summer we’ll have a much better sense if the security threat is diminished as a result of, say, a significant reconciliation with large numbers of Taliban,” Lt. Gen. David Barno told The Associated Press in an interview Sunday. “That will change the security dynamics tremendously, and of course our forces are sized against the security threat.”Afghan officials have repeatedly urged supporters of the former ruling regime to give up the fight or return from exile and lend a hand in rebuilding a country shattered by a quarter-century of war and a debilitating drought.But only since Karzai’s landslide victory in the landmark October 9 presidential election have plans emerged for a full-blown reconciliation program, which could anger ethnic minorities which suffered under the Taliban.Barno said Karzai, who is to be sworn in as Afghanistan’s first popularly elected leader on Tuesday, is to produce a list of Taliban leaders to be excluded from the amnesty and pass it to Islamabad. Full Story