Breaking news
British army troops could stay in Afghanistan beyond the 2014 NATO withdrawal deadline 2005122.
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Defense News - United Kingdom |
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| Sunday, May 20, 2012, 10:00 AM | |||
| British army troops could stay in Afghanistan beyond the 2014 NATO withdrawal deadline. | |||
Plans
for a compete Western pullout from Afghanistan seem to be drifting with
Britain saying a small number of its soldiers may remain in the country
beyond the 2014 NATO withdrawal deadline. A senior United Kingdom government
official has said ahead of the NATO summit in Chicago that the soldiers
will stay in the country to fight terrorism, Reuters reports. This is
the first time has Britain indicated that troops, other than a training
contingent, could remain. The official spoke on the condition that his
anonymity was preserved. |
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 British army soldiers members of counter IED team in Afghanistan |
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| This comes as the US President Barack Obama and Afghan leader Hamid Karzai signed a partnership deal cementing US support for Afghanistan and allowing Washington to keep troops there after 2014. The British official stressed that the UK will not remain in a combat role in Afghanistan beyond the deadline but did not rule out possibility that some troops may stay. "The majority of forces that remain in Afghanistan will be in a training and mentoring role," he said on Saturday. "But I wouldn't rule out a small number of forces playing a counterterrorism role if needed. This would be in keeping with how we are working to protect ourselves from the terrorism threat emanating from other parts of the world, such as the Arabian Peninsula." Britain,
which currently has the second largest foreign contingent in Afghanistan
after the US, has not yet set out plans for how many troops it will withdraw
in 2013 and 2014. It earlier said that some 120 British troops will remain
to help train Afghan officers. |
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