U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron said on Thursday that British combat troops will be withdrawn from Afghanistan by 2015.
Addressing lawmakers, Cameron defended the deadline saying it is better to have a firm deadline rather than many individual deadlines for troops to pull out.
“By 2015 we will have played a huge role, made a massive contribution, made massive sacrifices for a better, safer and stronger Afghanistan,” Cameron said, according to a Reuters transcript.
“I think the British public deserves to know that there is an end point to this,” he said.
The British government does plan to continue to be present in Afghanistan after 2015 in the form of training missions.
“I think we learned the lesson in the past of walking away from Afghanistan. I am not proposing that,” Cameron said.
At present Britain has over 10,000 troops in Afghanistan.
Addressing lawmakers, Cameron defended the deadline saying it is better to have a firm deadline rather than many individual deadlines for troops to pull out.
“By 2015 we will have played a huge role, made a massive contribution, made massive sacrifices for a better, safer and stronger Afghanistan,” Cameron said, according to a Reuters transcript.
“I think the British public deserves to know that there is an end point to this,” he said.
The British government does plan to continue to be present in Afghanistan after 2015 in the form of training missions.
“I think we learned the lesson in the past of walking away from Afghanistan. I am not proposing that,” Cameron said.
At present Britain has over 10,000 troops in Afghanistan.
