Washington's ambassador to Kabul said Thursday no deadline exists for withdrawing US troops from Afghanistan and recommitted the US to helping build the capacity and competence of Afghan security forces, reports Agence France-Presse.
US forces would begin a "gradual and responsible transition" in July 2011 conditional on the readiness of Afghanistan's own police and army to take over the security of their war-battered country, Karl Eikenberry said.
"US combat forces will start to return from Afghanistan in July 2011. It is not a deadline, despite what some in both the United States and Afghanistan have said," he told a gathering of senior Afghan officials and mostly Western diplomats.
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