Drone strikes and covert operations have weakened Afghanistan's al-Qaeda network to the extent a speedier than planned withdrawal of US troops would be justified, according to officials in the Obama administration.
Senior officials who appeared to support a faster exit plan told the New York Times that 20 of al-Qaeda's 30 prominent leaders in the region had been killed in the past 18 months.
During the May 2 raid in Pakistan that killed Osama bin Laden, the US seized intelligence materials at the al-Qaeda leader's compound which showed that his lieutenants were too afraid for their lives to plan overseas terror attacks.
An official said that the description of Pakistan's tribal areas as a "safe haven" was now a misnomer. Mr Obama has doubled the rate of drone attacks in Pakistan's autonomous areas, adding to tensions with Islamabad but reaping deadly results against al-Qaeda.
Given that one of his major justifications for continuing the war in Afghanistan has been to "disrupt, dismantle and defeat" al-Qaeda, many of his senior officials are arguing that he now has the latitude to bring home US troops at a faster rate than anticipated.
With growing concern in the United States about the duration and cost of the war, Mr Obama is under mounting pressure to reduce the US military presence. |