WASHINGTON, Sept. 14 (Xinhuanet) -- Senior Pentagon and military officials are discussing a proposal to cut US troop levels in Afghanistan next spring, perhaps by as much as 20 percent, The New York Times reported Wednesday.

    The troops would be replaced by NATO soldiers, who now oversee security and reconstruction missions in northern and western Afghanistan and are to take over an American command in the south next spring, the report said.

    US troops have been taxed by lengthy deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan, and Pentagon officials have sought to replace them with indigenous or allied soldiers.

    Any reductions in the nearly 20,000 US troops in Afghanistan will be based on resolution of the details with NATO, successful parliamentary and provincial elections in the country and stable security, the report quoted military officials as saying.

    "It makes sense that as NATO forces go in, and they are more innumbers, that we could drop some of the US requirements somewhat," John P. Abizaid, head of the US Central Command, told the newspaper.

    Abizaid declined to give an exact number of potential troop cuts, but another senior official said the Pentagon could reduce force levels by as much as 20 percent, or about 4,000 troops, according to the report.

    Six-nine US soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan this year,the deadliest year for American forces since the war in 2001. Enditem