Guardian: Britain to Pull UP to 4000 Troops from Afghanistan
Up to 4,000 British troops could leave Afghanistan before the end of 2013 under proposals being put before UK Prime Minister David Cameron at a meeting of the National Security Council next week.
The famous English "Guardian" paper has learned that "a sharp acceleration in troop withdrawal is one of three options to be considered by the PM, and is understood to be favored by at least two senior members of UK government that is struggling to cut the costs of the decade-long losing war."
Under the proposal, the number of UK troops in Helmand province would be cut from 9,000 to 5,000 during 2013, and almost the same number would come out the following year.
A third option to be put before Cameron involves a fudge of these two positions. This would be likely to see a further 2,500 British troops leave Afghanistan in 2013, bringing the total to 6,500.
The English National Security Council meeting on Tuesday will run through the different scenarios amid growing concern about the cost of Afghanistan's war.
Earlier this year, US President Barack Obama announced that 30,000 American troops would leave Afghanistan this year and next, leaving 68,000 - by far the largest contingent.
He is expected to make a further declaration early next year or at the latest during the international conference on Afghanistan in Chicago in May.
Source: Guardian, Edited by moqawama.org
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