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OVERNIGHT DEFENSE: The Hill reports from Afghanistan
The Topline: The Hill’s Carlo Muñoz has been on the ground in Afghanistan for more than a week, reporting for DEFCON Hill on the state of the 11-year war.
Muñoz has filed dispatches on U.S. troops putting the transition plan to train Afghan troops into overdrive and on the challenges of Taliban “reintegration” in the East. On Monday, he reported on a bombing in a busy market square in Khost City.
Muñoz is stationed in the country’s eastern region bordering Pakistan, a key area as NATO prepares to transition to Afghans controlling security by the end of 2014.
The border region in Eastern Afghanistan has been a flash point for U.S. troops, who have battled Pakistani-based terror groups like the Haqqani Network for months. Recently, the State Department added the Haqqanis to its official list of known terror groups, after several senior lawmakers pressed the department on the matter.
The Obama administration is in the midst of preparing plans for U.S. force levels in Afghanistan through 2014 and beyond. U.S. Commander in Afghanistan Gen. John Allen is preparing recommendations for the administration to determine how many troops the U.S. should have over the next two years as it draws down from the 68,000 currently stationed in Afghanistan.
There were reports Monday that the White House is now reviewing options for the U.S. military presence in Afghanistan after 2014, when as many as 10,000 U.S. troops could stay beyond the security hand-off.
Muñoz is traveling on assignment for the U.S. Naval Institute, where he is looking at Navy-led provincial reconstruction teams working along the volatile Afghan-Pakistan border.
Defense bill’s fate remains unclear: Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said Monday that negotiations are still ongoing to bring the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) to the floor.
Reid said that Republicans were having “disagreements among themselves” on the NDAA, a reference to Sen. Rand Paul’s (R-Ky.) filibuster threat over his proposed amendment to curb indefinite detention by the military for U.S. citizens.
Reid moved to other bills on Monday, and said that the defense bill could be brought up again on Wednesday if the disagreements can be resolved.
Reid left it up to the heads of the Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.) and ranking member Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) to find a way forward.
Levin and McCain are looking to limit the number of amendments — hundreds can be filed on the wide-ranging Pentagon policy bill — as they seek to complete the bill in three days.
They are facing a time crunch trying to finish the lame-duck session and ensure they continue a streak of passing the bill for 50 straight years.
The House passed its defense authorization bill in May.
AIA wants ‘balanced’ solution: The Aerospace Industries Association, the defense industry’s leading trade group in Washington, called for a “balanced solution” to the "fiscal cliff" Monday as lawmakers returned to Washington.
The trade group has warned for months of the dangers that the across-the-board sequestration cuts would have on the defense industry, and is now lobbying Congress to find a solution that averts the $55 billion in spending cuts to defense in 2013.
AIA CEO Marion Blakey said in a statement Monday that the industry was “encouraged” by the negotiations between the White House and congressional leaders, and urged the parties to focus on an approach that includes “adequate revenue and entitlement reform.”
As the lame-duck talks have begun, defense industry leaders have expressed concerns their interests will be shut out of the deliberations because the biggest debate is over taxes, and not defense spending.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:
— White House reviewing post-2014 Afghan options
— Insurgents bomb Eastern Afghanistan market
— Sen. Paul renews fight over indefinite detention
— White House drafting rulebook for drone strikes
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