22/06/2011 11:50
Obama to order withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan
U.S. President Barack Obama is expected to call for a major withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan Wednesday night, with roughly 10,000 coming home to the U.S. in less than a year, AP reported.
The phased drawdown is likely to start with 5,000 troops recalled this summer and an additional 5,000 by winter or spring 2012, according to a senior U.S. defense official.
Obama is also weighing a timetable for bringing home the 20,000 other troops he ordered to Afghanistan as part of his December 2009 decision to send reinforcements to reverse the Taliban's battlefield momentum.
Roughly 100,000 U.S. troops are in the country, three times as many as when Obama took office.