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US considering slowing down troop withdrawal from Afghanistan

During his first visit to Afghanistan, U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter said the U.S. is considering slowing its military exit from the embattled country by keeping a larger troop presence in the country than previously planned because the new Afghan government is proving to be a more reliable partner.
President Obama plans to discuss a range of options for U.S. military withdrawal when Afghan president Ashraf Ghani visits the White House in March, Carter said at a news conference with Ghani. The two presidents plan to “rethink” the counterterrorism right in Afghanistan, he said.
There are 10,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan, down from 100,000 from 2011. Carter did not say Obama was considering keeping troops in the country beyond 2016, but was only considering the pace of troop withdrawal for the next two years.
While the White House recently acknowledged it was reconsidering the exit plan, Carter's remarks were the most direct explanation by a Pentagon official amid criticism from opposition Republicans that the Democratic commander in chief is beating a hasty and risky retreat.
Ghani shad requested “some flexibility in the troop drawdown timeline” in February. The day after the request, Gen. John Campbell, a top U.S. commander in Afghanistan told the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee he had presented U.S. leaders with options that would allow him to continue training and advising Afghan forces through the summer.
Carter said the new thinking about the mission in Afghanistan has to do with the stabilized government in Afghanistan between Ashraf and Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah. The unity offers new promise for a more effective partnership in stabilizing the country, Carter said.
Ghani has made it clear he thinks a slowdown of troop withdrawal would offer better support for Afghan forces battling the Taliban. Obama’s current plan calls for troop levels to cut in half from 10,000 by the end of the year.
Carter lauded the progress that Afghanistan has made during the 13 years since U.S. forces invaded and toppled the Taliban rule. Obama's goal, he said, is to "make sure this progress sticks" so that Afghanistan does not again become a launching pad for terrorist attacks on the U.S.
Carter also met in the Afghan capital with Campbell and Gen. Lloyd Austin, the commander of U.S. Central Command, which has responsibility for U.S. operations in Afghanistan and across the Middle East.

Slow start for program to reduce vets' waits at Veterans Affairs facilities, offer private medical care

Far fewer veterans than expected are taking advantage of a new law aimed at making it easier for them to get private health care and avoid the long waits that have plagued Department of Veterans Affairs facilities nationwide.
Only 27,000 veterans have made appointments for private medical care since the VA started mailing out "Choice Cards" in November, the VA said in a report to Congress this month. The number is so small, compared to the 8.6 million cards that have been mailed out, that VA Secretary Robert McDonald wants authority to redirect some of the $10 billion Congress allocated for the program to boost care for veterans at the VA's 970 hospitals and clinics.
Republicans and Democrats insist the problem is the department and that it needs to do a better job promoting the choice program. They also want to change a quirk in the law that makes it hard for some veterans in rural areas to prove they live at least 40 miles from a VA health site.
The government measures the distance as the crow flies, rather than by driving miles, leaving thousands of veterans ineligible.
"Veterans put their lives on the line to defend this country. The very least we can do is ensure they don't have to jump through hoops to receive the care they need and have earned," said Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., whose vast state has just one VA hospital.
The choice program was a key component of last year's sweeping law approved in response to reports that dozens of veterans died while waiting for appointments at a VA hospital in Phoenix, and that appointment records were manipulated to hide the delays. A series of government reports said workers throughout the country falsified wait lists while supervisors looked the other way, resulting in chronic delays for veterans seeking care and bonuses for managers who falsely appeared to meet on-time goals.
The law, signed by President Barack Obama in August, allows veterans who have waited more than 30 days for an appointment to get VA-paid care from a local doctor. It also allows veterans who live at least 40 miles from a VA hospital or clinic to get private care and makes it easier to fire VA employees accused of wrongdoing.
The choice program expands an existing program that allows veterans to get outside care for emergencies or procedures not available at the VA. Veterans have long complained about waiting months or even years to be reimbursed for private care, and many are skeptical the choice card will alleviate those problems, despite promises by the VA.
"I don't believe any of us thought that there would be a wholesale rush to leave the VA system at all, but we are still early in the program," Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Fla., chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, told reporters during a recent tour of the VA.
McDonald's bid to shift the money has met a bipartisan wall of opposition in Congress, where leaders said the landmark law they adopted last summer to overhaul VA has not been fully implemented. Taking money away from the choice program just three months after it was launched is premature, even irresponsible, lawmakers and veterans advocates said.
Miller called the plan a complete nonstarter. His Senate counterpart, Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., called it unacceptable. And Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., one of the law's chief authors, said Congress not only would reject the idea "but refuse to even consider" it.
Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal, the senior Democrat on the Senate veterans panel, said in an interview he would oppose any reallocation of funds "so long as there are delays and issues with quality of care" at VA.
McDonald counters that the proposal, which has not been formally submitted to Congress, would help ensure that "every veteran receives the care they have earned and deserve regardless of where they choose to get it from."
McDonald, who took over as VA secretary in July, said he never intended to "gut the choice program or somehow eliminate" it. Instead, he said, he simply seeks the kind of budget flexibility he enjoyed as Procter & Gamble CEO.
"Imagine your household. You are hungry, but you can't move the money from the gasoline account to the food account. Well, that is the situation I face," he said at a Feb. 11 budget hearing before the House Veterans Affairs Committee.
Louis Celli, director of veterans affairs and rehabilitation at The American Legion, the largest veterans service organization, called McDonald's explanation disingenuous.
"Draining funds from the bill short-circuits the program and ultimately hurts vets," Celli said, noting that VA officials had pushed for the choice program as a short-term way to expand patient access to care.
Rep. Tim Huelskamp, R-Kan., said a veteran in his rural district drives 340 miles one-way for cardiology treatment at a VA hospital in Kansas City.
"If the VA choice program can't provide something closer for him, then we need to relook at how we are implementing that," Huelskamp told McDonald at the Feb. 11 hearing.
McDonald said VA officials are willing to look at the 40-mile rule to see if it needs to be changed. The VA is committed to doing all it can to "make sure the program is robust," he said.

GOP governors in Maryland, Tennessee offer voluntary employee buyouts to reduce government

Republican governors in two states -- Maryland and Tennessee -- are offering voluntary employee-buyout programs as a way to reduce government beyond furloughs and cutting programs.
In Maryland, newly elected Gov. Larry Hogan is offering state employees in agencies in the executive branch a lump sum payment of $15,000, according to a letter dated Wednesday. They also would receive an additional $200 for each year of service.
The program is part of Hogan's balanced budget plan that was released last month and closed a budget shortfall of about $750 million.
"The goal of the program is to reduce the size of the state workforce by allowing employees to elect to voluntarily leave state service," David Brinkley, Hogan's budget secretary, wrote in the letter.
He also said that closing the shortfall “required some very tough decisions” but that the budget still managed to be structurally balanced without eliminating agencies and programs, imposing furloughs or eliminating filled state positions.
In Tennessee, Gov. Bill Haslam mentioned a voluntary buyout program during a budget presentation earlier this week. And the administration’s Department of Human Resources provided more details in a follow-up email to state employees.
According to the email, only those employees determined eligible for the buyout will be invited to participate in the program. Each department and agency is working to determine what classifications will be considered eligible.
A website, telephone line and email address have been established to update and inform people about the program, as well as give them an opportunity to ask questions.
Town hall meetings are also planned across the state to provide assistance to those interested.
In the Maryland program, the deadline to apply is March 13. People who apply and are selected by the state would have to leave no later than April 28.
The plan aims to save about $30 million.
Former Gov. Martin O'Malley included voluntary early separation in a package of budget cuts approved by the state’s Board of Public Works last month.
A Hogan spokesman said the governor is “simply following through with it."
O'Malley also offered voluntary separation in 2010 to help address a budget shortfall. More than 600 people accepted it in 2010.

Obama policy to bring Syrian refugees into US raises concern among Republicans, intelligence community

An Obama administration plan to allow Syrian refuges into the United States is raising concerns within the intelligence community and on Capitol Hill -- with one GOP House leader calling it a “federally sanctioned welcome party” to potential terrorists.
The State Department has defended the plan to welcome refugees from the war-ravaged western Asia country, saying the U.S. was founded on the principles of helping such people.
However, House Republicans are concern about members of The Islamic State, whose de facto headquarters is in Syria, infiltrating the refugee system and getting on American soil.
Mike McCaul, chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security, said Friday night on Fox News’ “Hannity” show that the policy is “dangerous and reckless.”
The Texas lawmaker said he also recently wrote National Security Adviser Susan Rice about the policy, which includes brining in refugees from neighboring Turkey, where millions of Syrians have fled because of their civil war.
In the letter, he and fellow Republicans raised concerns about the U.S.’s screening process, which is hindered by the intelligence-gathering challenges in Syria.
"You have to have information to vet,” FBI Assistant Director Michael Steinbach, said in a Feb. 11 House homeland security hearing. “Databases don't [have] the information on those individuals, and that's the concern.”
McCaul suggested at the hearing that allowing Syrian refugees into the U.S. would be a “huge mistake.”
“Most of (the refugees) are women and children, but there are male actors that concern me,” he said. “This would be a federally sanctioned welcome party, if you will, to potential terrorists in the United States.”
An estimated 7 million Syrians are seeking refugee status, and 500 have reportedly already been allowed into the U.S.
"It's clearly a population of concern," Nicholas Rasmussen, the director of the National Counterterrorism Center, said at the hearing.
Said Steinbach: "I'm concerned. We'll have to take a look at those (terror watch) lists and go through all of the intelligence holdings and be very careful to try and identify connections to foreign terrorist groups."
Steinbach and Rasmussen were joined at the hearing by Francis Taylor, who runs the Department of Homeland Security’s intelligence office.
Taylor acknowledged his agency was concerned about any group that might be coming to the U.S. for “nefarious purposes.” However, he said he was “not in a position” to agree or disagree with the refugee policy because it was under the offices of the secretary of State.
The State Department did not send a witness to the hearing. But Larry Bartlett, an agency director for refugee admission, told ABC News that the vetting process is "intensive," deliberate and includes information and guidance from the Defense Department and other U.S. intelligence agencies.
"We have a very slow process of moving refugees through our pipeline, and part of it is because of the security vetting component," he said.
Despite the concerns of Rasmussen and the others who testified, they vowed that the screen process would be as rigorous as possible.
"Any tasking we're given ... will be as thorough as we can make it," Taylor said.
Rasmussen said the U.S. intelligence community would put its “full weight” behind vetting refugee candidates.