New strategy: 14 Americans training Pakistani troops quit

The military had asked the US to cut its troop presence in Pakistan.

ISLAMABAD:

In what appears to be a step towards reconciling differences in the wake of the Abbottabad incursion, 14 Americans who were training Pakistani commandos quit the exercise on Monday, it has been learnt.

The Americans, whose names and ranks are not known, were training a special group of the Pakistan Army at the Ghazi area of Tarbela Dam. They are likely to return to the US in next few days, an official said.

Earlier this month, the Pakistan Army had demanded from the US to cut its troop presence in the country to a “minimum” in the wake of a unilateral operation undertaken by the US in Abbottabad which killed al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden.

When contacted for confirmation, Press Attaché at US Embassy in Islamabad Alberto Rodriguez said: “I can neither confirm the number of Americans nor the execution of the demand at this juncture.”  

Published in The Express Tribune, May 31^st, 2011.