U.S. Military Seeks Slower Pace to Wrap Up Afghan Role - Eric Schmitt, Helene Cooper, and David E. Sanger. The New York Times reports this morning that U.S. military officials are "building a case to minimize the planned withdrawal of some troops from Afghanistan starting next summer" and that a "rising generation of young officers, who have become experts over the past nine years in the art of counterinsurgency, have begun quietly telling administration officials that they need time to get their work done".