Overnight Defense: US slows Afghan exit | Pentagon helps hunt Baghdad bombers | Obama, Putin talk Syria war

by TheHill.com - 07/06/16 7:48 PM ET

THE TOPLINE: President Obama on Wednesday announced he’s slowing the pace of the withdrawal for U.S. troops in Afghanistan.

Obama said he will leave 8,400 troops in the war-torn country, an announcement he made in the Roosevelt Room alongside Defense Secretary Ashton Carter and Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

{mosads}”I strongly believe it is in our national security interest … that we give our Afghan partners the very best opportunity to succeed,” Obama said.

There are currently 9,800 U.S. troops in Afghanistan, a number previously set to be reduced to 5,500 next year. The shift came in response to the persistent threats posed by Taliban militants and the nascent Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

The latest troop decision follows a move to allow U.S. troops more authority on the battlefield to defend Afghan troops, including providing close air support and accompanying conventional Afghan forces onto the battlefield. Previously, U.S. forced had only accompanied Afghan special operations units.

The president acknowledged that the conflict in Afghanistan has been difficult to wind down.

For more on the decision, read here.

HILL REAX TO AFGHANISTAN DECISION: Republicans in the House and Senate welcomed the president’s decision not to halve the troop presence from 9,800 to 5,500. However, they questioned why he was withdrawing forces at all.

“I welcome President Obama’s decision to reverse his previous plan to drawdown U.S. forces in Afghanistan,” said Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain (R-Ariz.), who wanted the president to maintain all 9,800 troops there.

“That said, when the President himself describes the security situation in Afghanistan as ‘precarious,’ it is difficult to discern any strategic rationale for withdrawing 1,400 U.S. troops by the end of the year,” he added.

House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mac Thornberry (R-Texas) focused on how the administration expected to pay for maintaining more troops there than previously planned.

“The White House must submit a supplemental funding request to accommodate troop levels in Afghanistan immediately,” he said.

The White House indicated it would not ask for more funding, and instead ask Congress to shift funds from other programs.

“That will require Republicans doing something that they routinely find to be quite challenging, which is putting the country’s priorities ahead of their own personal political considerations,” White House press secretary Josh Earnest said at a briefing after the president’s announcement.

Democrats expressed support for the president’s decision, with disappointment coming from Congress’ lone Afghanistan War dissenter, Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.). The Hill’s Rebecca Kheel has more on Lee’s reaction.

And for more on McCain’s and Thornberry’s response, click here.

OBAMA, PUTIN TALK SYRIA: President Obama spoke by phone with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday to discuss the conflict in Syria.

The White House said Obama urged Putin to pressure Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to halt attacks on civilians and opposition groups that are party to a cessation of hostility agreement, which has been repeatedly violated.

Both leaders “confirmed their commitment to defeating” Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) forces and Syria’s al-Qaeda affiliate, known as the Nusra Front. Obama also renewed his call for a political solution to the five-year-long civil war.

But the White House description of the call differed from the Kremlin’s. The Hill’s Jordan Fabian has more, here.

TOP DEM OPTIMISTIC ABOUT DEFENSE BILL: The ranking Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee is optimistic Congress won’t break its 54-year streak of passing a defense policy bill despite a shortened election-year schedule and divisions between the House and Senate.

“Of course it could be” the year it doesn’t pass, Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.) told reporters at a Defense Writers Group breakfast on Wednesday. “I don’t think it will be.”

The two chambers are expected to officially form a conference committee prior to an extended summer break to start reconciling their versions of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).

The goal remains to have a bill before Oct. 1 as Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain (R-Ariz.) has said, Smith added.

The Hill’s Rebecca Kheel has more on Smith’s expectations here.

US MILITARY HELPING LOOK FOR BAGHDAD BOMBERS: The U.S. military is providing assistance and intelligence to Iraqi forces to help secure Baghdad after a major attack on Sunday killed more than 240 and wounded hundreds more.

“We are providing them intelligence to bolster their efforts, to bolster their ability to control the capital,” said Army Col. Chris Garver, spokesman for the anti-ISIS coalition.

“We’re providing them some intelligence, looking specifically for the bombers attacking Baghdad; looking to how we can influence those bombers and stop them before they conduct an attack,” he said.

He added there was other support he could not discuss the specifics of.

Garver also said he did not believe the bombing in Baghdad would affect Iraq’s goal to retake Mosul, ISIS’s stronghold in Iraq.

“The coalition believes that Mosul is the prize. And continuing to break the caliphate and continuing to break the will of Daesh inside is the right course of action,” he said, using a derogatory Arabic name for ISIS.

“We think Daesh wants the Iraqis to turn around and stop the attack and go back to Baghdad. And so clearly, you don’t want to do what the enemy wants you to do. You want to keep moving and you want to keep attacking and you want to keep the pressure up,” he said.

ON TAP FOR TOMORROW:

Senate Armed Services Committee hosts a hearing on NATO, Russia and European Security at 9:30 a.m. at Dirksen Senate Office Building, room G50.

The House Armed Services Committee hosts a hearing on Goldwater-Nichols reforms at 10 a.m. at Rayburn House Office Building, room 2118.

House Armed Services’ Seapower and Projection Forces and the Foreign Affairs Subcommittee hosts a joint hearing on South China Sea Maritime Disputes, at 3:30 p.m. at 2118 Rayburn.

The House Foreign Affairs Committee will host a hearing on Guantanamo and the administration’s policy at 10 a.m. at 2172 Rayburn.

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Please send tips and comments to Kristina Wong, kwong@digital-staging.thehill.com, and Rebecca Kheel, rkheel@digital-staging.thehill.com