WASHINGTON — Marines will lead the U.S. troop drawdown in Afghanistan this year, reducing by about half their numbers in the key province of Helmand as Afghans move fully into the combat lead there, a top U.S. general said Wednesday.
Helmand, which has seen some of the fiercest American and allied fighting over the past two years, is switching to Afghan control faster than most other Taliban-contested areas of the country.
Maj. Gen. John Toolan, who has commanded the U.S. Marine contingent in Helmand for the past year, told The Associated Press in a phone interview from his Camp Leatherneck headquarters in southwestern Afghanistan that the number of Marines is likely to shrink by 8,000 to 10,000 from the current total of 17,500 by the end of September. That is the target date for the overall U.S. force in Afghanistan to drop to 68,000 from the current 90,000.
The broad aim, established at NATO’s November 2010 summit, is to have Afghan forces fully responsible for security by the end of 2014, with the residual U.S. and NATO military role yet to be fully defined.
