DUSHANBE, March 3, 2012, Asia-Plus — Britain’s Minister of State for the Armed Forces, Nick Harvey, has discussed with Tajik leaders possible transit routes for the withdrawal of British troops from Afghanistan in 2014, Radio Liberty’s Tajik Service reported on March 2.
Harvey told journalists in Dushanbe after talks on March 2 that a proposed route for the troops” withdrawal would go through Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan, and therefore the cooperation between the three Central Asian countries is needed.
According to Harvey, members of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) could leave behind some of their equipment in Afghanistan and possibly in the three Central Asian countries.
Earlier this week, British Defense Secretary Philip Hammond visited Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan to discuss the Afghan withdrawal.
