Germany, Turkey and Italy are set to keep their deployments in Afghanistan at current levels, senior NATO officials said Monday after the U.S. government decided to prolong its 14-year-long military presence there.
The Taliban's brief takeover of a provincial capital has raised concern about the strength of Afghan state forces and both the United States and its NATO allies now say events, rather than timetables, must dictate gradual troop reductions.
Gen. Philip Breedlove, NATO's top commander in Europe, said he had assurances that NATO countries will continue alongside the nearly 10,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan. While discussions of exact numbers are still continuing, the biggest national deployments are not in doubt, he said.
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