LOC22:44
19:44 GMT
Afghanistan
WASHINGTON, Jan 27 (KUNA) -- The United States on Friday said it will
"manage" after France announced it will pull their troops from Afghanistan.
Dodging questions on the affect France's decision will impact International
Security Assistance Force (ISAF) rotations there, State department spokeswoman
Victoria Nuland told reporters that the US has worked it through "in a NATO
context, in an Afghan context, we will be able to manage it."
"the main thing now, as we transfer authority, province by province, area
by area, from NATO to the Afghan lead, is that this is done in a managed,
phased, planned way. Having a year towork through this will allow us to have
those conversations both internally within NATO countries and with the Afghans,
" Nuland said.
"France has been a very strong player in the mission, has performed
superbly in Afghanistan, has also been a superb partner for the Afghans in
training. We expect the training cooperation to continue," she added.
News of the French-Afghan proposal comes one week after Sarkozy abruptly
suspended France's training missions and joint military patrols with Afghan
forces following the shooting death of four unarmed French troops by an Afghan
soldier on Jan. 20.
Sarkozy announced that the French will resume their training mission as of
Saturday and withdraw its own troops by the end of 2013. (end)
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