US military looks to cut cost of Afghanistan pullout
Pentagon officials are holding talks in Afghanistan on the withdrawal of US military equipment from the country, officials said Friday, as Washington hopes to lower the cost of the massive operation. American forces are having to fly out large amounts of gear at great expense but defense officials would like to move more vehicles and equipment over cheaper land routes through Pakistan, officials said. With the US military's drawdown underway and set to finish by the end of 2014, about 20 percent of the cargo is currently being withdrawn through the overland route across the Pakistan border. But officials say they would prefer to have 60 percent of all materiel move over land instead of by air. Deputy Defense Secretary Ash Carter and other senior officials arrived in Kabul earlier Friday and the equipment withdrawal, or "retrograde," will feature prominently in their discussions, officials said. Carter will seek to "assess the continued progress on retrograde efforts," a defense official said. The Afghan government shut the border earlier this year in a dispute over what the US military should pay for withdrawing its gear, with Kabul insisting the Americans owed up to $70 million in customs fines. Washington has maintained the military equipment came into the country legally and refused to pay the fees. Afghan authorities eventually reopened the border. By 2015, the United States must remove about 24,000 vehicles and the equivalent of roughly 20,000 shipping containers.
