Senate backs quicker Afghan exit

— The Senate voted Thursday for an accelerated withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan after more than a decade of fighting.

The bipartisan vote of 62-33 comes as President Barack Obama and the military engage in high-stakes talks about the pace of drawing down the 68,000 U.S. troops, with a White House announcement expected within weeks. The vote Thursday was on a nonbinding amendment to a defense policy bill.

Thirteen Republicans, including Sen. Richard Lugar of Indiana, the top GOP lawmaker on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, backed the measure.

Arkansas’ Sens. Mark Pryor, a Democrat, and John Boozman, a Republican, opposed the amendment. Pryor was the only Democrat to vote in opposition.

Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., the amendment’s chief sponsor, argued that al-Qaida is stronger in other parts of the world and that nation-building in Afghanistan has gone off track. His measure endorsed Obama’s timetable to withdraw all combat troops by the end of 2014 but pressed for a quicker pace, without specifying how that would be achieved.

“It is time to end this war, end the longest war in United States history,” Merkley said during Senate debate.

The overall bill authorizes$631 billion for weapons, ships, aircraft and a 1.7 percent pay raise for military personnel. The White House threatened to veto the legislation in its current form, citing limits on the president’s authority in handling detainees at the U.S. military facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and restrictions on cuts to the Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve.

The Senate hopes to wrap up its version of the bill by week’s end. It then would have to be reconciled with the legislation the House passed in May. The House bill calls for Obama to maintain a force of at least 68,000 troops through the end of 2014.

Meanwhile, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said Thursday that the U.S. intends to wage a counterterrorism campaign inside Afghanistan even after the main U.S. combat force leaves in 2014 in order to prevent al-Qaida from fulfilling its ambition to re-establish a sanctuary there.

Panetta told a Pentagon news conference that the U.S. should have an “enduring presence” in Afghanistan to pursue the counterterrorism effort, and to train and advise Afghan forces.

Panetta said al-Qaida poses a continuing challenge in Afghanistan, even though it has only an estimated 100 fighters in the country and has suffered many setbacks since the U.S.-led invasion in 2001.

“The fact is that they continue to show up,” Panetta said, adding that intelligence indicates that they are lookingfor ways to strengthen their position and influence in Afghanistan.

Last week, Panetta said al-Qaida and affiliated terrorist groups in Pakistan see the rugged reaches of northeastern Afghanistan - especially the provinces of Kunar and Nuristan - as a viable safe haven. He vowed not to permit them to regain that sanctuary.

On Thursday, Panetta would not say how many American troops he thinks will be needed to conduct the counterterrorism mission - nor did he mention a time period. He said the size of the counterterrorism force is now under discussion.

Information for this article was contributed by Robert Burns of The Associated Press.

Front Section, Pages 2 on 11/30/2012

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