NEW YORK :  The CIA is planning to close its satellite bases in Afghanistan and pull all its personnel back to Kabul by early summer, according to an American newspaper, which cited US officials as saying that the unexpectedly abrupt withdrawal will deprive them of vital intelligence while thousands of American troops remain in the country.
The US military fears the quick withdrawal will deprive it of vital intelligence while thousands of American troops remain in the country. Citing unnamed US officials in its report, the Times noted that the CIA Director John Brennan informed US military commanders in March that his agency would shutter operations outside Kabul, removing CIA case officers and analysts as well as NSA specialists responsible for intercepting insurgent phone calls.
 and other communications, a rich source of daily intelligence.
“Pentagon officials warn that the CIA drawdown after 12 years of war is coming just as insurgent attacks are normally at their peak. As a result, the CIA withdrawal has strained relations between the agency and military commanders in Kabul,” the officials said, according to the newspaper report.
The newspaper said intelligence officials confirmed the drawdown, but said the pace is still uncertain. They linked the CIA move to the steady pullout of US military forces who normally provide protection and logistical support for the network of intelligence-gathering outposts, which often are hidden inside US military bases. Hundreds of those forward operating bases have now closed, although dozens are still operating.
“There is no stomach in the building for going out there on our own,” said a former CIA operator who has spoken to current officers about the pullback. “We are not putting our people out there without US forces.”
The CIA, the report says, also plans this summer to stop paying the salaries of Afghan paramilitary forces that it has armed and trained for more than a decade to help fight the Taliban-led insurgency in eastern Afghanistan, near the Pakistani border. It's unclear what will happen to the militias.
Meanwhile, the Pentagon is seeking to persuade the CIA to slow its withdrawal, arguing that keeping CIA and NSA operators in the field as long as possible will help prevent a surge in insurgent attacks before the end of 2014, when most U.S. troops are due to leave.
An official said Brennan told military officials that the CIA would be able to continue gathering intelligence and targeting militants, even after pulling back to Kabul and Bagram and withdrawing many of its personnel. The dispute has arisen as the Obama administration is nearing a final decision on the size and mission of the force that the US hopes will remain in Afghanistan after this year, the report noted. The US officials hope President Hamid Karzai’s successor will sign the pact. Elections were held in April, and the two leading contenders, former Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah and former World Bank executive Ashraf Ghani, will face a runoff in June.