Top U.S. general says it's possible he'll request more troops for Afghanistan

The top U.S. commander in Afghanistan says he won't hesitate to ask for more troops if necessary to train Afghan soldiers.

There are 9,800 U.S. troops now training Afghan forces, and Army Gen. John Campbell told USA Today he wants to hold off on the scheduled reduction to 5,500 troops by Jan. 1, 2017. "If I don't believe that we can accomplish the train, advise, and assist, and the [counter-terrorism] missions, then I owe it to the senior leadership to come back and say, 'Here's what I need,'" he said. "If that's more people, it's more people."

In a quarterly assessment, the Pentagon reported that in the second half of 2015, "the overall security situation in Afghanistan deteriorated with an increase in effective insurgent attacks and higher [Afghan security force] and Taliban casualties." Campbell said that while it's not all bad news in Afghanistan — the number of high-profile suicide bombings dropped 36 percent from 262 in 2014 to 168 in 2015, and Kabul is a "vibrant city" — it's important to contain the situation. "If we don't stay engaged here or build their capacity to fight this, keep sanctuary down, it's coming back to the homeland," he told USA Today. "So it's pay a little bit now, build the capability, and keep this an away game as opposed to a home game."