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ISLAMABAD, Dec. 26 (Xinhua): American troops assisting in relief and rehabilitation operations will leave Pakistan's earthquake-hit areas in March next year, US Ambassador Ryan C Crocker said Sunday.
There are over 1,000 US personnel in Pakistan to "assist with relief efforts," according to the US embassy.
Crocker announced the withdrawal of the soldiers during a visit to the quake-hit areas in Pakistan-controlled Kashmir and the North West Frontier Province (NWFP), private Geo TV reported Sunday.
However, the Ambassador said that the US forces could stay if a request was made and if they were needed there.
Crocker visited US soldiers in Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistan-controlled Kashmir and Shinkiari, a town in the NWFP, and exchanged Christmas greetings with them, according to the report.
A US Army mobile army surgical hospital operating in Muzaffarabad and a US Combined Medical Relief Team operating in Shinkiari have provided urgent medical care to over 9,000 injured people, the report said.
Meanwhile, the US military Monday gave details of its planned troop reduction in Afghanistan, saying the total number would shrink by some 2,500 from the current 19,000 under a routine troop rotation due very soon.
US military spokesman, Lieutenant Colonel Laurent Fox, said however that the 2,500-strong force from the 10th Mountain Division will remain on standby and can be deployed anytime if needed.
"The replacement group that will be coming in will be 2,500 less than what is being replaced," the spokesman told a regular press briefing in Kabul.
"We've approximately 19,000 troops (currently) and this will bring it down to approximately 16,500," he added.
US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld announced last week that the US would reduce its troop strength in Afghanistan next year by between 2,000 and 3,000.
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