The new Pentagon chief says the Obama administration is seriously considering slowing the pace of troop withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Ashton Carter arrived in Afghanistan Saturday on an unannounced visit to meet with the country’s officials.

He used his first visit to Afghanistan as the defense secretary to offer the clearest sign yet that the United States is looking to delay the closure of some military bases and withdrawal of all American forces from the country by January 2017.

US President Barack Obama “is considering a number of options to reinforce our support for President [Ashraf] Ghani’s security strategy, including possible changes to the timeline for our drawdown of US troops,” Carter said after talks with Afghan leaders.

“That could mean taking another look at the timing and sequencing of base closures to ensure we have the right array of coalition capabilities,” he said at a joint news conference with the Afghan president in Kabul.

Carter’s visit to Afghanistan comes amid a sharp rise in civilian casualties from a growing resurgence of militancy. The United Nations recorded a 22 percent increase in the number of civilians killed and injured in 2014.

Before landing in Kabul, Ashton said he was told by President Obama to carry out his own assessment of the situation in Afghanistan, adding he would suggest “adjustments” if necessary.

Obama’s timetable seeks a drawdown of troops to about 5,500 troops by the end of this year. The US and its allies formally ended combat operations in Afghanistan in December, with 13,500 troops remaining there in an “advisory role.”

Despite the official end to the combat mission, the US has escalated a “secret war” in Afghanistan, according to a recent report.

Washington has significantly stepped up night raids in Afghanistan since October, when American and Afghan commandos found a laptop computer with files allegedly detailing planned terrorist attacks in Afghanistan and neighboring Pakistan, The New York Times reported last week.

The US invaded Afghanistan in 2001 as part of Washington’s so-called war on terror. However, it has failed to root out the Taliban in a war which has claimed over 2,300 Americans lives.

HRJ/HRJ