WASHINGTON -- The United States expects to spend about $6 billion a year training and supporting Afghan troops and police after it begins pulling out its own combat troops in 2011.
The previously undisclosed estimates of U.S. spending through 2015, detailed in a NATO training mission document, are an acknowledgment that Afghanistan will remain largely dependent on the United States for its security.
That reality could become problematic for the Obama administration as it continues to seek money for Afghanistan from Congress at a time of increasingly tight budgets.
The training mission document, reviewed by The Associated Press, outlines large scale infrastructure projects including a military hospital and military and police academies aimed at "establishing enduring institutions" and "creating irreversible momentum."
Spending for training is projected to taper off from $11.6 billion next year to an average of $6.2 billion over the following four years. Much of the reduction reflects reduced spending on infrastructure.
The administration recently announced that it intends to ramp up the total Afghan army and police force by 50,000 by late next year. The mission will be largely paid for by the United States, with smaller contributions from NATO allies. The projected multibillion dollar cost of maintaining those forces would be inconceivable for Afghanistan's small economy without foreign aid.
The Obama administration has boosted the training mission in preparation for next year's drawdown. The United States spent more than $20 billion on training between 2003 and 2009 and expects to spend about the same this year and next alone.
The head of the NATO training mission, U.S. Lt. Gen. Bill Caldwell, says bolstering Afghanistan's security forces is cost efficient.
"It will always be more expensive to have a coalition force doing something than an Afghan counterpart," Caldwell said.
Caldwell said he is sensitive to the concern that the United States is creating dependence and is looking for ways of cutting costs.
"We know the sooner the Afghan systems are up and running the sooner coalition forces can transition responsibilities to the sovereign government," he said.
Todd Harrison, an analyst with the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, says it will be difficult to wean the Afghan security forces quickly.
Caldwell has said he aims to have Afghan security forces at sufficient numbers to begin a U.S. withdrawal by October 2011.
The mission has had to deal with illiteracy, corruption and desertion among Afghan forces.
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