RT – The British government is poised to keep a small special forces contingent on the ground in Afghanistan, The Telegraph has reported, after the Taliban made significant ground gains amid the US withdrawal.
Days after the US and its NATO allies pulled out of the coalition’s main base in the country, Afghan troops retreated and the Taliban captured swaths of territory, including a key district in Kandahar province. The UK is now reportedly considering the retention of an “advisory group” of elite special forces soldiers in the country.
The decision whether to withdraw all the UK’s remaining 750 soldiers from the war-ravaged country for good or leave some troops behind amid the Taliban’s ongoing onslaught is yet to be made, a senior military source told the paper. UK PM Boris Johnson, who has the final say on the matter, is expected to make an announcement at the National Security Council meeting on Monday.Citing a former Special Air Service (SAS) soldier, who until recently was stationed in Afghanistan, The Telegraph reported that the group would “provide training to Afghan units and deploy with them on the ground as advisers.” The deployment will be open-ended, they said, meaning the forces would stay “as long as [the government] continue to see value” in having them stationed there.
Earlier reports in the UK media suggested that British troops might exit Afghanistan by July 4 – a deadline seemingly timed with the US soldiers’ pullout from Bagram Air Base, the coalition’s main military hub in the country, located near Kabul.
Officials in the UK, however, were reluctant to commit to a certain timeframe, saying that London “reserves the right” to dispatch troops back to Afghanistan, either as part of a coalition or unilaterally, if parts of the country are overrun by terrorists.
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