Afghan policy in focus

Some U.S. counterterrorism strategists are likely to revive the case for eliminating insurgency leaders, following the death of Osama bin Laden, officials say. Strategists who maintain targeted elimination of insurgency leaders, such as bin Laden, is more reliable and cost-effective than sending more troops to Afghanistan under a counterinsurgency campaign, could find favor at a time when some members of both partisd in Congress want to reduce both the U.S. presence and the cost of the war in Afghanistan, The Washington Post reported Wednesday, citing administration officials and lawmakers. Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations committee, says the current Afghan war tab, estimated at $10 billion a month, is "fundamentally unsustainable." He told a hearing this week the Obama administration urgently needs to clarify both its mission and exit plan in Afghanistan. A senior administration official involved in Afghanistan policy told the Post "there will be no re-litigation" of the current strategy under which President Barack Obama has dispatched 30,000 more U.S. troops and several civilians to that country. The official said the death of bin Laden "may have a significant effect going forward on the setting of milestones and the pace and slope" of the U.S. troop withdrawal from Afghanistan, which could begin after July. Other officials told the Post the president and his national security team have not yet opened discussions on the withdrawal and the military has not so far made a recommendation. Indiana Sen. Richard Lugar, the leading Republican on the Foreign Relations Committee, told the hearing Obama should come up with a "new plan that includes a definition of success in Afghanistan based on the United States' vital interests and a sober analysis of what is possible to achieve."