NEW YORK, 15 September 2005 — US troop levels in Afghanistan could be cut by up to a fifth, or about 4,000 troops, next spring under a proposal being reviewed by the Pentagon, The New York Times reported yesterday. If adopted, it would be the biggest withdrawal since US-led forces overthrew the Taleban in late 2001, the Times said, citing unnamed Pentagon and military officials.

US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, in Berlin for a NATO meeting, declined to comment on the article but said the United States would continue to have “a strong role” in the country. A Pentagon spokesman said Rumsfeld had seen no such proposal. NATO, which has some 10,000 peacekeepers in the capital Kabul and the northern and western parts of Afghanistan, would replace the American troops, the paper said. NATO hopes eventually to expand its force into the more violent south and east, now patrolled by a US-led coalition of roughly 20,000 soldiers.

“It makes sense that as NATO forces go in, and they’re more in numbers, that we could drop some of the US requirements somewhat,” the Times quoted US Gen. John Abizaid, head of the US Central Command, as saying in an interview in Kabul on Tuesday.

Another top officer who spoke on condition of anonymity said the Pentagon could cut force levels by as much as 20 percent. Asked about the report in Berlin, Rumsfeld said troop levels fluctuated constantly and depending on security.

“US forces will of course continue to play a strong role,” he said, adding: “Ultimately our goal is for Afghans to provide for Afghan security.”

At the Berlin meeting, NATO vowed to push ahead with a planned expansion of peacekeeping in Afghanistan but several European countries rejected a US call to join in combat against the Taleban-led insurgency. But France and Spain insisted NATO’s peacekeeping duties should remain distinct from the 20,000-strong US-led Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF), largely focused in the south and east.

“These missions must remain separate with separate chains of command. The only thing they have in common are that they are in the same country,” said Spanish Defense Minister Jose Bono Martinez, echoing the view of France’s Michele Alliot-Marie.