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                 Report: Obama Trims Afghan War Budget Request

   U.S. President Barack Obama is trimming his funding request for the
   Afghan war.
   The Reuters news agency quotes an unidentified White House aide as
   saying the president has decreased his request for funding the war in
   Afghanistan by 10 percent for the 2014 fiscal year budget. The report
   says the president reduced his original request from $88.5 billion to
   $79.4 billion.
   The White House issued a statement Friday saying the change was made to
   account for the drawdown of troops set to begin next year.
   The president has set 2014 as the target for withdrawing most of the
   troops while maintaining sufficient personnel there to support Afghan
   forces and carry out some operations.
   A reporter for VOA`s Deewa service says the border between Afghanistan
   and Pakistan is seeing increased traffic as more trucks loaded with
   military hardware are leaving Afghanistan ahead of the U.S. troop
   withdrawal.
   Meanwhile, the Defense Department is seeking congressional approval to
   shift nearly $10 billion of its budget to cover the increased costs of
   the war in Afghanistan.
   The Pentagon request, made late Friday, is larger than the $7.5 billion
   limit that Congress set for annual transfers between accounts.
   It is not clear how Congress will respond to the request.
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   [1]http://www.voanews.com/content/report-obama-trims-afghan-war-budget-
   request/1663748.html

References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/report-obama-trims-afghan-war-budget-request/1663748.html