The US on Friday said it has reduced the number of military personnel in Pakistan following a request from the Pakistani government. “We recently received a written request from the government of Pakistan to reduce the number of US military personnel here and we have nearly completed that reduction,” said Vice Admiral Michael LeFever, chief of the office of the defence representative in Pakistan, according to statement issued by the US embassy.
The embassy statement did not say the exact number of US military personnel being called back but according to officials, 90 of the 135 personnel had been withdrawn in response to the Pakistan government’s request. The statement came a day after the country’s top military brass were informed that the army has “drastically cut down the strength of the US troops” stationed in the country.
The corps commanders were told that the army had never accepted any training assistance from the US except for training on the newly-inducted weapons and some assistance in training the Frontier Corps. According to an official, 90 of the 135 US personnel, who were here for the training of Frontier Corps, have left Pakistan. Asked about the remaining US military personnel, the official said those whose services were essentially required were being kept.
