(AhlulBayt News Agency) - The head of the Joint Chief of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen reiterated that the Pentagon does not know how many soldiers will be pulled out in July and predicted a rise in violence throughout the year.
Mullen said on Wednesday “As difficult as it may be to accept, we must prepare ourselves for more violence and more casualties in coming months. The violence will be worse in 2011 than it was in 2010 in many parts of Afghanistan.”
The US military chief stated that the drawdown would depend on the level of Afghan security forces' readiness in taking control.
He pointed out the “fragile gains” the US-led NATO forces have made in the country but did not fail to claim that the Taliban were losing the war especially in dangerous areas like the Kandahar province.
On Tuesday, US Vice President Joe Biden said Washington will not withdraw its troops from Afghanistan in the previously announced deadline of 2014, if Kabul does not want it to do so.
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