US to cut troops to Afghanistan

2005-12-20 22:38

Washington - The United States will reduce its troop strength in Afghanistan next year by between 2 000 and 3 000 soldiers from the current 19 000, US defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld said on Tuesday.

"We are probably going to be able to draw down about 2 000 or 3 000 US troops," Rumsfeld said in a statement.

"We will still have more total US troops in Afghanistan than all of the (other Nato) nations combined," he added.

Rumsfeld said the troop reduction would not have an adverse impact on US military operations in Afghanistan, where US and Nato forces have been based since overthrowing the Taliban regime four years ago.

"We will be continuing our counter-terrorism activities," Rumsfeld said. "The activities will continue to be engaged there.

"It will be the normal security activities at a slightly lower level, the counter-terrorism activities at the same level, the assistance and training and the equipping of the Afghan security forces at the same level," he said.

"The country has now gone through a presidential election and parliamentary and provincial elections and we were able to make those (force) adjustments," the Pentagon chief said.

In a statement, the defense department said the force reduction would be accomplished by not fully deploying an entire brigade of the US Army 10th Mountain Division next year.

The statement said the move "will bring US force levels in Afghanistan to approximately 16 500" and was made possible because of the "growing presence of Nato forces in Afghanistan".

"Commanders will continue to assess the situation on the ground for future force-level adjustments," the statement said.

- AFP