Gen. John Allen, the former commander of U.S. troops in
Afghanistan, recommended between 6,000 and 15,000 troops. But
that figure was lowered to a range between 2,500 and 9,000,
according to a defense official. There might not be any U.S.
troops at all if the United States cannot come to an agreement
over immunity with Afghanistan. There was no American presence
in Iraq at the end of that war because the Iraqi government
refused to extend legal protections to U.S. troops. Karzai,
who's in favor of a residual force, said he would put the
immunity decision in the hands of Afghan elders, and he
expressed confidence that he could persuade the elders to see
things his way. Leaving no U.S. troops at all would be a major
misstep, said Peter Bergen, CNN's national security analyst. He
said the U.S. has abandoned Afghanistan already, in 1989, and
the decision left America with little understanding of the power
vacuum that led to the Taliban's rise in the first place. "The
current public discussion of zero U.S. troop p