British Prime Minister David Cameron arrives in Washington on a three-day visit in which he will hold talks with his American Counterpart Barack Obama.
British Prime Minister David Cameron arrives in Washington on a three-day visit in which he will hold talks with his American Counterpart Barack Obama.
Media outlets report that the two leaders will tackle issues of Afghanistan, including a scheduled withdrawal of occupation troops from Afghanistan by the end of 2014.
Cameron visit comes just two days after a US occupation soldier killed and burned the bodies of at least 16 Afghan civilians in a village in the province of Kandahar.
It also comes few weeks after copies of the holy Quran were burned in the Afghan US airbase of Bagram, sparking days of anger and violence across the country .
There have been reports on Tuesday in both the US and British media that Cameron and Obama would look for ways to speed up the transfer of security and lead fighting role to Afghan forces next year before a full withdrawal in 2014.
The New York Times reported that Obama, already committed to pull out 33,000 surge troops by this year was keen to bring home another 20,000 troops by 2013, amid increasing public fatigue after more than a decade of war.
"RUSH AFGHAN WITHDRAWAL"
The White House however denied that any specific options pegged to troop numbers were under discussion and said withdrawal timetables would be dictated by the success of Obama's Afghan strategy, not domestic politics.
As he was heading to Washington, Cameron warned against Afghan withdrawal.
He acknowledged that both in Britain and the US “people want an endgame” in Afghanistan.
“They want to know that our troops are going to come home, they have been there a very long time,” said Cameron.
“I accept it won't be a perfect democracy. There will be huge development problems,” he added describing the situation in Afghanistan as he claimed that the occupying forces would be withdrawn from Afghanistan in 2014.
Cameron’s remarks echo that of Obama, who also warned against a “hasty” withdrawal of Afghanistan.