Obama cuts spending for Afghan security

A hallmark of the plan to end the Afghan war by 2014 was last year's surge along with a beafed-up Afghan security force. So far, the Afghan forces have increased to362,000, approaching the 550,000 deemed necessary to secure the country. Now, the President's administration wants to cut spending for Afghan security forces by some 5 billion dollars to help close the deficit in this country. The amount of the reduction amounts to a 50% cut in funding for the Afghans.

While we all recognize that eventually the bill will have to be funded by the Afghans themselves, reduction in spending for security forces at this time is likely to destabilize the Afghan government and potentially put US troops at greater risk.

The amount of savings is minuscule compared to the proposed budget. At 5.5 billion out of 3.8 trillion, this is less than 2 tenths of a percent. While we all want to see even greater reductions than proposed by the President, this is penny wise and pound foolish.