The final decision on a further speedup of the British withdrawal from occupied Afghanistan will have to wait until December, but Defense Secretary Philip Hammond today reported that he plans to withdraw 4,500 troops, half of the forces left in the country, in 2013.
The initial plan for Britain was to forestall any further pullouts until the beginning of 2014, removing the rest of the troops by the end of that year. There has been growing pressure, however, to speed that up.
Indeed, even this move is likely to spur even more pressure for a December decision to speed not just the beginning of the “final drawdown” but also its end, with Chancellor George Osborne suggesting at a recent meeting that he believes an immediate, full withdrawal should be considered.
Britain is one of several NATO member nations committed to leaving by the end of 2014. The United States has a deal with the Karzai government agreeing to stay through at least the end of 2024.
Twelve U.S. soldiers dead in the first two weeks of October, 2012. The latest two were killed by small arms fire. Also Saturday numerous bombings were reported across Afghanistan in the latest offensive by the Taliban. Details at icasualties.org.
The rats are abandoning the sinking ship! The Taliban has won. Convincingly.
Will the West ever get anything right?
Well, wanna be veep Ryan may disagree with you. According to him, things are going swimmingly for the Empire in Afghanistan.
Now that Iraqi oil has been lost to Russia And China, the Afghanistan invasion is a total failure with England and the rest pulling out, a war with Iran seems futile. Soon there will only be obummers forces left in Afghanistan, the way it should have been all along for creating this problem in the first place.
The Brits are probably wise to leave while they can. Not for nothing were they there before and they got their asses kicked.
Twice even. Apparently, they're just as stupid as the Yankees.
It's not the half that's leaving that counts, it's the half that staying.