US commanders drafting plans for postwar force in Afghanistan

The three-star general declined to comment on the specifics of the plan, saying it was “too early to tell” as to the specific troop numbers or missions that the proposed postwar force will perform. 

{mosads}”We [still] have to get some more data,” Milley told reporters at the Pentagon, which leaders at the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) Joint Command are still gathering. 

Final recommendations, according to Milley, should be handed over to Gen. Joseph Dunford, head of all coalition forces, by this fall.

The postwar force recommendations will coincide with the end of the most recent fighting season in Afghanistan, he added. 

While details of that postwar U.S. force are still in the works, Milley did shed some light on where the Pentagon and Kabul are heading after the American pullout in 2014. 

A majority of support provided by the American postwar force will not be focused at the “tactical level,” where Afghan forces are now in the lead on more than 90 percent of all combat operations in the country, according to Milley. 

Rather, U.S. and allied support will be directed at the leadership of Afghan military battalions, or kandaks, stationed across the country. 

That support will include efforts to continue training Afghan forces on close-air support, countering deadly roadside bombs and providing artillery and mortar fire support to Afghan ground troops, Milley said. 

American and NATO troops may also continue to conduct those missions, particularly on air support and bomb detection, for Afghan forces after 2014. 

Those missions will be conducted under NATO control, as part of the alliance’s postwar mission in Afghanistan, dubbed Operation Resolute Support. 

The ongoing postwar effort by American and alliance military leaders will allow Afghan forces “to get to a pretty high level” of combat capability within the next year, Milley said. 

Planning for U.S. and alliance operations after 2014 essentially takes the White House’s plans for a complete withdrawal from Afghanistan, known within the administration as the “zero option,” off the table. 

Rising tensions between the Obama administration and Afghan President Hamid Karzai prompted the White House to announce it was considering a complete pullout from Afghanistan after 2014. 

The zero option floated by President Obama in July was quickly derided by a number of U.S. and coalition commanders, including Dunford. 

But in a Monday interview with Stars and Stripes, Milley said the zero option was never a real option for U.S. ground commanders in Afghanistan. 

“We have no indication whatsoever of a withdrawal completely from Afghanistan,” Milley said, adding “we haven’t been told to plan for” a zero option. 

“We are going to change our mission, and we are going to reduce in size and scope,” he said during Monday’s interview.