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British forces to begin their final retreat from Afghanistan

11th March, 2020 · admin 5 Comments

Press TV
March 11,  2020

After nearly two decades of military intervention in Afghanistan, the UK finally looks set to depart the country following the US peace deal with the Afghan Taliban.

According to the Times newspaper, “hundreds” of British troops are set to be withdrawn from Afghanistan by “mid-July” as part of the “first phase” of the US-Taliban peace deal.

Altogether, 330 British soldiers are scheduled to leave Afghanistan by the end of the summer. Currently there are 1,100 “regular” UK military personnel stationed in Afghanistan, most of them in and around Kabul.

The full evacuation of the British troops, as part of the “second phase” of the drawdown, is dependent on the sustainability of the volatile peace agreement between the US and the Taliban leadership.

The Times defence editor, Lucy Fisher, tweeted that there is “doubt” about durability in view of the Taliban’s propensity to engage in further resistance against US and UK forces.

Crucially, it is not clear at this stage if British Special Forces, notably soldiers from the Special Air Service (SAS) and its sister unit the Special Boat Service (SBS), will be withdrawn in tandem with regular forces.

Currently SAS and SBS soldiers are embedded with US forces in areas well beyond Kabul, notably in the southern Helmand province.

News that British forces are finally retreating from Afghanistan will come as a big disappointment to military families, particularly those who lost loved ones in the conflict.

Since April 2002, 456 British military personnel have been killed in Afghanistan, whilst more than 2000 have been injured.

In addition, British military veterans who served in Afghanistan continue to suffer acute psychological distress with reports that at least 14 former and serving soldiers (with service experience in Afghanistan) have committed suicide in this year alone.

British military families are likely to take the government and the military high command to task for consistently misleading them about Britain’s muddled war aims in Afghanistan and the failed project of transforming the highly complex country into a pro-Western “democracy”.

Posted in Britain-Afghanistan Relations, Peace Talks, Security, Taliban, US-Afghanistan Relations | Tags: Helmand |
« ‘Ghani is No Longer President’: Abdullah
Release of Taliban prisoners creates mixed reactions in Afghanistan »

5 thoughts on “British forces to begin their final retreat from Afghanistan”

  1. Samarqandi says:
    June 24, 2020 at 3:07 am

    What are
    you
    talking
    about- they are not
    going to leave
    Pakistan
    in
    the
    region; all
    alone like
    an
    abandoned orphan !
    •

  2. Samarqandi says:
    September 27, 2020 at 12:38 pm

    How
    can you eradicate
    a
    cockroach- they always reappear
    in
    one form or another,
    somewhere.
    ========
    Good luck !
    .*

  3. Samarqandi says:
    September 27, 2020 at 12:40 pm

    *It has
    lasted over
    two hundreds
    odd years, now !
    *

  4. Samarqandi says:
    September 27, 2020 at 12:45 pm

    The main reason
    for
    the
    GRAND INVASION
    ((of 2001)) i
    of
    Afghanistan was
    to
    consolidate their grip and positions
    all over the region- the parasites are really creepy; won’t be able
    to
    easily get rid
    of
    Them.
    *

  5. Samarqandi says:
    September 27, 2020 at 12:46 pm

    THEY
    ARE PURE SAVAGES !
    *

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