US Voices Concern Over Afghan Troop Withdrawal

US Defense Secretary James Mattis has voiced concern at the country's previous strategy of removing troops from combat operations.

It comes as NATO announces plans to raise the number of troops training Afghan forces fighting the Taliban. General Mattis said:

"Looking back on it, it's pretty much a consensus that we may have pulled our troops out too rapidly, reduced the numbers a little too rapidly."

The US had a high of 100,000 troops in Afghanistan in 2011 before the Obama administration wound down the combat mission and pushed for more responsibility for security to be handed to Afghanistan's forces.

But NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg insisted it was right to end the combat role in 2014.

"If anything, we should have done it before."

After 16 years of war the US and its NATO allies are still trying to help Afghanistan beat the Taliban.

NATO defence ministers meeting in Brussels have been considering requests from military commanders to provide another 3,000 troops, to join the 13,000 already deployed for training Afghan forces.

Britain has pledged 85 more troops to join the 500 already in Afghanistan.