Pentagon plans little change to war budget despite Afghan exit

The Pentagon has proposed only a slight decrease in war funding in 2015, even even though most or all US troops are due to withdraw from Afghanistan by the end of the year, officials said Tuesday.

"Overseas contingency operations" funds are separate from the Pentagon's "base" budget and have been used to finance wars in Afghanistan, Iraq and counter-terrorism efforts elsewhere for more than a decade.

After President Barack Obama came into office, his deputies vowed to shift the war spending back into the Pentagon's main budget.

But the Defense Department's proposed budget released Tuesday calls for $79.4 billion in war funding for fiscal year 2015, nearly the same as in the current year.

The overseas operations fund is at $85.2 billion this year.

About 33,700 US troops remain in Afghanistan and the bulk of the force is due to depart by December. The Obama administration hopes to keep a small contingent of up to 10,000 troops in the country beyond 2014 -- if the Afghan government signs a bilateral security agreement.