Getting your player ready...
NAWA, Afghanistan — U.S. Marines have begun handing over some of their small bases to the Afghan army in this once-volatile district in the country’s southwest, a transition that top military commanders intend to cite as proof that the Obama administration’s troop escalation and counterinsurgency strategy are succeeding. The transfer, which calls for most Marines to withdraw from populated parts of Nawa and consolidate in a series of desert bases by the spring, would allow the overall number of U.S. troops in the district — now at about 1,000 — to be reduced by next summer.
