Carter arrived in Afghanistan’s capital on Saturday during his first foreign trip since being sworn in as defense secretary four days ago.
“Our priority now is to make sure this progress sticks. That is why President Obama is considering a number of options to reinforce our support for President Ghani’s security strategy, including possible changes to the time line for our drawdown of U.S. troops,” Carter said.
“That could mean taking another look at the timing and sequencing of base closures to ensure we have the right array of coalition capabilities to support our Afghan partners,” he said.
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Hagel, a former Republican senator, resigned after less than two years on the job when he was unable to fully mesh with President Barack Obama’s national security team at the White House.
CNN’s Diane Ruggiero contributed to this report.
