Obama set to unveil Afghan troop cuts

WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama will order his promised US troop drawdown from Afghanistan in a primetime address Wednesday, which one official said would likely see 10,000 soldiers called home this year.

Obama will stick with his vow to begin pulling out US forces after an 18-month troop surge, but apparently heed Pentagon warnings that an overly swift withdrawal could imperil hard-won gains against Taliban insurgents.

A senior defense official said on condition of anonymity that the president would "likely" order the return of about 5,000 troops this summer and 5,000 more by the end of 2011. Another 20,000 troops, part of a 30,000 strong surge ordered in December 2009, would be withdrawn by the end of next year, meaning elevated force levels would remain through two more Afghan summer fighting seasons.

The president's broadcast at 8:00 pm (0000 GMT) will take place as political attitudes shift on the war following the killing of Osama bin Laden, other heavy US blows against Al-Qaeda and as US public support ebbs for the conflict.

"The president will address the nation from the White House to lay out his plan for implementing his strategy -- first unveiled in December 2009 -- to draw down American troops from Afghanistan," Obama spokesman Jay Carney said.

The figure of 10,000 soldiers this year, if confirmed, appears higher than the "modest" initial withdrawals the Pentagon had originally advocated, as Obama walks a delicate balance between political and strategic logic.

War skeptics argue that after the deaths of more than 1,600 US service personnel and at a monthly cost of nearly $10 billion a month, the American commitment is unsustainable at its present size of 99,000 US troops.

Carney branded a flurry of media reports on the size of the drawdown as mere speculation and refused to divulge details of the president's decision, which was finalized earlier Tuesday.

Obama promised Americans when he unveiled the surge that he would begin to bring soldiers home in July 2011 -- a vow critics panned as offering succor to US enemies.

The months leading up to the drawdown decision have seen a turf war that has drawn in Obama's political team, Pentagon brass and lawmakers keenly aware of voter fatigue over a decade of war in Iraq and Afghanistan.(AFP)