US & UK: War in Afghanistan Far from Over

Local Editor

The US announced its strategy will not change in Afghanistan, even after the death of Al Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden.

"I don't think the war (in Afghanistan) is over. I don't think the loss of bin Laden will cause us to change our strategy," Major General John Campbell, the commander of US-led NATO forces in eastern Afghanistan, said on Tuesday.

Campbell's remarks came less than two months before the timeline Washington had announced for the "limited" drawdown of its troops nearly a decade after the occupation of Afghanistan.
The General also expected that bin Laden's death could trigger more attacks on US occupation soldiers in Afghanistan.

On his part, British commander ruled out a soon withdrawal from the country. Commander of British occupation troops said that the West will not abandon the Asian country even after a final deadline for the handover of security to Afghan troops in 2014.

"December 2014 is not a campaign end date but a waypoint," General James Bucknall said.
"Until we have made it clear that the international community is not going to abandon Afghanistan in the near term the insurgents will think that they can wait out the campaign," Bucknall said.
The United States has been delaying its pullout for two or three years each time, until finding a new excuse to extend the military presence in the region. Barak Obama, the president of the United Sates, had previously promised that American forces would begin withdrawing from Afghanistan in July 2011 but failed to do so.