Former defence chief questions political timing of Obama’s troop withdrawal

By Emily Gosden, Alex Spillius and Andy Bloxham:

Mr Obama announced last night that he would order the withdrawal of 10,000 US troops from Afganistan by the end of this year and the remainder of the 33,000 “surge” forces by no later than September 2012 – two months before he stands for re-election.

Lord Stirrup said: “The concern I have about what was announced last night is that the date of summer next year does seem on the face of it to be more closely related to political and electoral timescales than actually to phased handover to the Afghan security forces.”

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