By IANS,
Islamabad : The number of US military personnel in Pakistan has been reduced following a request from Islamabad, the American embassy here said Friday.
“We recently received a written request from the government of Pakistan to reduce the number of US military personnel here, and we have nearly completed that reduction,” Vice Admiral Michael LeFever, chief of the Office of the Defence Representative-Pakistan, was quoted as saying by Xinhua.
“We’ve been honoured to partner with the Pakistan military and we believe our service members here provided excellent support to Pakistan’s military in the fight against violent extremists,” LeFever said in a statement.
The total number of US forces in Pakistan is determined at the request of and in conjunction with the government and military of Pakistan, the statement said.
When the government of Pakistan requests assistance, the US remains ready to help with the security requirement, it said.
The Pakistan Army said the military-to-military relationship with the US has to be viewed within the larger ambit of bilateral relations between the two countries.
Bilateral relations were affected after the May 2 raid by American special forces on Abbottabad city hideout of Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden, in which he was killed.