U.S. to Reduce Number of Troops in Afghanistan

The United States said it had ordered a reduction in the number of American troops in Afghanistan to about 16,500 from the current 19,000 by next spring.

The first such cut since U.S. forces invaded in 2001 to oust the Taliban government was sparked by a planned increase in NATO peacekeepers there next year and the growing size of Afghan security forces, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and other defense officials said.

Rumsfeld told reporters flying with him to Asia on Tuesday that the U.S. military would “continue to do the heavy lifting” in Afghanistan despite the reduction, even as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization boosts its International Security Assistance Force to 15,000.

The Pentagon said the orders, signed by Rumsfeld on Monday, meant that more than half of the 4,000 troops from the Louisiana-based 4th Brigade of the Army’s 10th Mountain Division would not be deployed in March as previously scheduled.

On the day Rumsfeld headed to Asia, the first full session of Afghanistan’s parliament nearly broke down after a lawmaker demanded that authorities bring to justice all warlords, some of whom are delegates.

Malalai Joya called for all of Afghanistan’s human rights abusers and “criminal warlords” to be brought to justice. Delegates responded by pounding their fists on the tables to demand she sit down.

Delegate Sayed Mubat Shah appealed for calm. “We have a big responsibility,” he said. “We all have equal rights. We are the voice of the Afghan people.”