NEW YORK - The United States is considering a much larger troop pullout in Afghanistan than that discussed a few weeks ago, The New York Times reported Monday. In a dispatch, the newspaper said some officials of President Barack Obama's national security team were arguing that such a change is justified by the rising cost of the war and the death of Osama bin Laden, which they called new strategic considerations. These new considerations, along with a desire to find new ways to press the Afghan president, Hamid Karzai, to get more of his forces to take the lead, are combining to create a counterweight to an approach favoured by the departing secretary of defence, Robert Gates, and top military commanders in the field, thev report said. They want gradual cuts that would keep American forces at a much higher combat strength well into next year, the Times cited senior administration officials as saying.