Security will not be negatively impacted by the withdrawal of more than half of the US troops currently deployed in Afghanistan, Isaf said on Thursday.
Isaf spokesperson Brig Gen Gunter Katz said that the abilities of the Afghan security forces have allowed the US forces to leave, and reiterated that the foreign forces will continue to support the Afghans.
"In the next spring, we will see that [Afghan forces] will take the security lead for the whole of the country. So clearly the Afghan National Security Forces exceeded our expectations which means that the Isaf forces go back to training, assisting and advising role in this year and there will not be a threat or change in terms of the security situation," he said in an interview with TOLOnews.
The comments come after American President Barak Obama announced Tuesday night that 34,000 of the 66,000 US troops now in Afghanistan will leave in the next year.
On the matter of recent reports of civilian casualties in Kunar, Katz said that investigations are underway over a joint Afghan/Isaf security operation in the eastern province which local officials claim killed as many as 10 civilians and injured five more.
"What I can confirm is there was an operation in Kunar province," Katz told TOLOnews. "It was partnered operation and we aware of the allegation regarding civilians causalities and we take them very seriously. We are looking into this right now - we sent a team there to investigate.
"I don't have the details today but as soon as we have them, we share them. But let me reassure you that Isaf will take civilians causalities very seriously," he added.