The Boston Globe    Earlier exit from Afghanistan would create
additional risk  THERE ARE two ways to interpret this week’s
news that the Obama administration is seriously weighing a total
military withdrawal from Afghanistan next year. The so-called
“zero option” is either a bluff to scare Afghan President Hamid
Karzai into being more cooperative, or a trial balloon to see
how the American public reacts. It’s unlikely that Obama is
bluffing. But the zero option is one the United States should
avoid.  Current plans in Afghanistan call for most of the 66,000
US troops there to depart in 2014, leaving behind fewer than
10,000 to train the Afghan army and conduct counterterrorism
operations. But negotiations with Karzai over the terms under
which those troops will operate have been excruciating. US
officials now say they are considering pulling all troops out by
the middle of next year.  Loading comments...