John McCain, the top Republican on the US Senate armed services committee, has called on President Barack Obama to withdraw no more than 3,000 troops when he commences the US drawdown in Afghanistan next month. The former presidential candidate told the Financial Times that he hoped Mr Obama would announce only a small reduction in troop numbers when he unveils his plans for the first stage of the US withdrawal.
“I would hope that it is very small. I would hope that it is 3,000,” Mr McCain said. “We need another fighting season.”
As Mr Obama mulls the pace and size of the drawdown, Mr McCain stressed that US and Nato forces needed one more “fighting season” to put pressure pn the Taliban to enter serious reconciliation negotiations with the Afghan government.
During a visit to Afghanistan at the weekend, Robert Gates, US defence secretary, echoed that view, saying it would be “premature” to change course. Mr Gates, who steps down as Pentagon chief this month, said he expected the initial withdrawal would be “modest”.
“I believe that if we can hold on to the territory that has been recaptured from the Taliban … and perhaps expand that security, that we will be in position toward the end of this year to perhaps have a successful opening to reconciliation,” Mr Gates said.
As the 10th anniversary of the invasion of Afghanistan approaches, the US public is growing increasingly weary of the campaign which has claimed the lives of about 1,600 American troops, as well as thousands of Afghans.
Mr Obama is facing calls for a significant withdrawal after US Navy Seals last month killed Osama bin Laden, the mastermind behind the September 11, 2001 terror attacks, which prompted the US invasion of Afghanistan.
In an interview, Mr McCain said the US also needed to change the nature of its relationship with Pakistan after the discovery that bin Laden was hiding in a garrison town just 50km from Islamabad. He said the US government could not justify giving Pakistan billions of dollars in aid unless there was more “accountability”.
Critics in the US accuse Pakistani intelligence and military forces of accepting US military aid while elements of their establishments maintain links with militants.
“We have to have a set of benchmarks similar to those in some ways that we enacted in 2007 concerning our presence in Iraq,” Mr McCain said, referring to the targets that the US Congress insisted Iraq meet to maintain US involvement. “I think we should work together with Pakistan to develop those benchmarks”.
Speaking on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue, an Asia defence summit, Mr McCain raised questions about possible Chinese plans to build a naval base in the Pakistani port of Gwadar.
Last month, Pakistan’s defence minister said Islamabad had asked China to construct the base at which the Chinese navy would maintain a regular presence.
Asked by the FT about those plans at the forum, Liang Guanglie, China’s defence minister, expressed ignorance, saying “I don’t know where you got your information”.
“[For] a question as important as the one you mentioned, China’s Central Military Commission and the Chinese government would have to discuss seriously … An official project would have to be set up for this. But we haven’t discussed it and we haven’t set up a project, so I can’t comment on it.”
Mr McCain said China was constructing port facilities across Asia, including in Sri Lanka, which was “commensurate with their growing economic power”. But he and other US officials have urged China to be more transparent about their military plans.
“What do they use those port facilities for … is the question that we don’t really know the answer to,” he said.
