(AP) U.S. troop levels in Afghanistan will be reduced by about 3,500 next spring thanks to increased NATO forces and a growing Afghan army, the Defense Department said Tuesday.

The announced decrease, which foreshadows the first major reduction in U.S. troop strength in Afghanistan since late last year, signifies what is expected to be a gradual decline in troop levels that will also include reductions in U.S. forces in Iraq.

Defense officials said the 4th Brigade, 10th Mountain Division, based in Louisiana, will not go to Afghanistan next March as initially planned. Instead, one battalion-sized force will go to southern Afghanistan in mid-2006 to help in the transition of that region to NATO control. The rest of the 4th Brigade would be in reserve, ready to deploy if needed.

The reduction would bring U.S. troop levels in Afghanistan to about 16,500.

"It's a good thing, it's progress," Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld told a small group of reporters Tuesday.

Rumsfeld said the reduction in U.S. forces in Afghanistan will mean a slight drop in the amount of number of normal security operations, like road patrols. It will not reduce the U.S. capacity for conducting counterterror operations, most importantly the hunt for al Qaeda and Taliban fighters.

The deployment changes were described this month by Pentagon officials who spoke condition of anonymity because the plans were not completed.

Rumsfeld signed the deployment orders Monday. He said senior commanders, including Gen. John Abizaid, commander of U.S. Central Command, had recommended scaling back.

"We still will have a large number of forces in the country," Rumsfeld said.

The 4th Brigade would have replaced the 173rd Airborne Brigade, which is scheduled to leave Afghanistan next spring and return to its home base of Caserma Ederle in Vicenza, Italy.

A brigade usually numbers around 3,500 troops, and a battalion generally is about 800 troops.

U.S. troop levels in Afghanistan peaked at 20,300 in April 2004, dropped to about 16,500 by the end of last year, then increased to about 20,000 this year.

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