UK may also slash troop levels in Afghanistan

KABUL (Pajhwok): The United Kingdom, taking its cue from the Trump administration, on Thursday indicated its plans to cut troop levels in Afghanistan.

On Tuesday, the outgoing American leader ignored warnings from the NATO general secretary and Germany and slashed US troop levels in Afghanistan by 50 percent.  

British Defence Secretary Ben Wallace, however, promised the UK would continue to work with Kabul and Washington to protect the country’s security

Reuters quoted Britain’s Defence Secretary Ben Wallace as saying the UK would keep working with Kabul and Washington to protect the country’s security.

Despite calls from the NATO chief, Trump went ahead on Tuesday with cutting the number of US forces in Afghanistan from 4,500 to 2,500 by mid-January.

Speaking to Sky News, Wallace said the United States was not withdrawing all its forces at this stage. And the UK did not have such plans either, he added.

“I expect if they (the US) are reducing at some stage, we will come down,” the secretary said, acknowledging that his country had little scope to act independently.

A day earlier, the German government told Trump his planned drawdown of American troops from Afghanistan could harm peace and progress in the country.

German foreign ministry spokesperson Christofer Burger told a media briefing in Berlin: “Our serious concern is that a premature withdrawal could jeopardise the negotiation process, create a security vacuum and jeopardise the progress achieved in Afghanistan.”

PAN Monitor/mud