US commanders are weighing a delay in the withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan after the country's protracted election set back preparations for the transition, Washington defense officials said Wednesday.

Under the current plan outlined by President Barack Obama, the US force will dwindle to 9,800 troops by January along with roughly 2,000 allied forces, and all American soldiers will be out by the end of 2016.

But after a months-long electoral dispute that postponed the signing of a crucial US-Afghan security agreement, there are questions about the readiness of Afghan forces and whether allied governments will have arrangements in place for their troops to deploy by 2015, officials said.

Pushing back the timeline is "an option" that is being looked at, but no decision has been made, said one Pentagon official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

"They are looking at the troop numbers to see if they can hit their mark," the official told AFP.

The new head of the NATO-led force in Afghanistan, General John Campbell, and other senior officers are reviewing whether a larger force needs to stay in place longer than initially planned, officials said.

"Right now he (Campbell) is comfortable with the current plan and timeline," said another military official who asked not to be named.

But "there are variables which need to be considered, such as the delay in the elections," as well as a new Afghan president, Ashraf Ghani, and the performance of Afghan forces, the official said.

"He is looking at risks to mission and risks to force and trying to find the right balance," he said.

Obama has vowed to end America's military presence in Afghanistan and a recommendation from top brass to alter the troop drawdown pace could present the US president with a difficult dilemma.

Lieutenant General Joseph Anderson, the number-two ranking officer in Afghanistan and head of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) joint command, separately told reporters that Afghan efforts to prepare for the end of ISAF's combat mission had been set back by the drawn-out election.

"The government of Afghanistan, the current president (Ghani), is concerned about the time they've lost" because the bilateral security agreement with Washington was only recently signed, Anderson said via video link from Kabul.

"It's cost them a lot of money," said Anderson, referring to the effect of the delay on Afghan forces. "It's cost them time to get their systems in place. That's everything from pay rolls to contracts, to budgets, to logistical forecasting."

Officials said it was too soon for Campbell to submit his recommendation for troop numbers to US Central Command and to NATO because he had taken over his post only about two months ago and Ghani was sworn in as president in September.

At its peak, the US force rose to more than 100,000 in Afghanistan, and there are now 27,000 troops deployed.

Mounting death toll for Afghan troops: US general
Washington (AFP) Nov 05, 2014 - Afghan troops are dying on the battlefield in unprecedented numbers after having taken over from NATO-led forces, and the death toll is "not sustainable," a top US commander in Afghanistan said Wednesday.

Afghan army and police have suffered a 6.5 percent spike in casualties this year, with 4,634 killed in combat in 2014, compared to 4,350 killed for all of 2013, said Lieutenant General Joseph Anderson, the number two ranking US officer in Afghanistan.

Afghan forces are being outfitted with more protective gear and adopting more effective tactics to counter roadside bombs planted by Taliban insurgents, "but they do need to decrease their casualty rate," Anderson told reporters via video link from Kabul.

The Kabul government's forces had improved their emergency medical care for wounded soldiers but there was more work to be done as the current casualty rate was untenable, he said.

"All those things have to continue to improve to reduce those numbers, because those numbers are not sustainable in the long term," he said.

The general, head of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) joint command, added that the casualty numbers had been expected to rise with Afghan forces now fully in charge of security and NATO combat forces rapidly scaling back.

"We expected that (death toll) actually to be much higher based on the role they've played and where they've been," Anderson said.

Despite the mounting casualties, Anderson said "the Afghan national security forces are winning, and this is a hugely capable fighting force who have been holding their ground against the enemy."

The Afghans have struggled to build up emergency medical care for soldiers wounded on the battlefield after having relied on NATO aircraft for evacuations.

Until last year, the number of Afghans who survived their combat wounds was less than 50 percent, a dismal rate comparable to what American soldiers faced 150 years ago in the US Civil War, according to military officials.

With nearly 9,000 Afghan soldiers killed in less than two years, the numbers far exceed the death toll for American troops in both Afghanistan and Iraq over the past decade. More than 4,400 Americans were killed in Iraq between 2003 to 2011 and more than 2,000 in Afghanistan since 2001.

There are 38,000 troops in NATO's US-led force in Afghanistan and by the end of the year the number is due to drop to 12,500 troops, including 9,800 Americans.