“A US envoy on Tuesday dismissed suggestions that Washington would withdraw all troops from Afghanistan after next year, saying that both countries wanted to preserve a smaller force. Aides to US President Barack Obama earlier this year openly mulled the so-called ‘zero option’ of a complete withdrawal from Afghanistan once US troops end their combat role in 2014. ‘We talk about the zero option — that’s not an option for the United States,’ said James Dobbins, the US special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan. Dobbins said he expected ‘several thousand American forces and several thousand non-American NATO forces’ in 2015 and beyond.”
