Obama’s Afghanistan pullout may end domination of drones

[Geee]

Washington Times:

President Obama’s call to cut the U.S. military presence in Afghanistan to 5,000 troops in 18 months will end an era of American drone superiority over the region and jeopardize hard-fought gains against al Qaeda just as the terrorist movement’s original core is rising again, former senior defense officials and national security sources say.

 

One U.S. official told The Washington Times that Mr. Obama’s plan has prompted frustration in the administration’s national security and intelligence circles and triggered a heated fight inside the Pentagon over what specific units will remain inside Afghanistan, as well as the extent to which they can remain at all “counterterrorism-relevant.”

 

The official confirmed that Mr. Obama’s decision to confine remaining U.S. forces to Kabul and Bagram Air Field, just north of the Afghan capital, by the end of 2015 will eliminate a strategic patchwork of forward operating bases used for drone missions and required for Special Forces raids such as the one that killed Osama bin Laden in Pakistan three years ago.

[Valin]

Wanna bet? Point being we are entering The Age of Drones.