Two republican senators have urged President Obama to reconsider his plans of downsizing Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF). In a letter to the White House, senators Carl Levin and Jack Reed have said it is necessary for the success of mission in Afghanistan not to reduce the size of ANSF. They added, “The savings in Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) funds as a result of the reduction in the size of the US force should help make this action affordable

We have expressed deep concerns on the plans of heavily reducing the size of ANSF. The Obama Administration plans to cut number of ANSF from 350,000 to 230,000 by 2015. Due to the global financial crisis and lack of interest in NATO capitals for bearing the financial burden of keeping ANSF, the plan to reduce a third of ANSF starting gradually from 2015 to 2017 is pursued.  

Maintaining the reduced size of ANSF has an estimated $4.2billion annual cost, which the US and NATO allies have pledged to support. Maintaining the current strength of ANSF will cost almost double of that amount, which the Obama Administration has clearly said that they would not support.

The downsizing plan is a conceptual model based on certain assumptions such as improved security and a possible deal with Taliban militants for a political settlement, which are uncertain. Meanwhile, there are no alternative options. Laying off over 120,000 well-trained combat veterans in 2015 in a dim job market could cause more of security risk, than the current calculations. 

Officials from Afghan Defense and Interior ministries say the decrease of ANSF strength should be based on ground realities and conditions of improved security. 

Earlier some other prominent Republican and Democrat lawmakers had also criticized the ANSF downsizing plan. They are saying the plan is “premature and militarily unjustified”. They say it is a wrong approach for determining the future size of the Afghan security forces.

After the withdrawal of bulk of US troops by 2014, the cost of war in Afghanistan will be reduced heavily, and the Obama Administration’s plan to cut strength of ANSF does not make sense, given the fact that talks with Taliban is the only assumption for improved security justifying a move that can not only derail the hard-won achievements of the US and its NATO allies in Afghanistan during the last decade, but also pushes Afghanistan’s decent into chaos, making it a home to international terrorists once again.