"We're expecting to contribute a modest amount to the remaining drawdown that has to occur between now and December," US Army Major General Daniel Allyn, who commands about 33,000 US and NATO soldiers in eastern Afghanistan, said in an interview with Reuters.

After more than a decade of war in Afghanistan, the White House is moving ahead with plans to withdraw the more than 30,000 extra troops Obama deployed after his 2009 overhaul of US policy.

The Pentagon says about 3,000 troops that comprised part of that troop surge already have been pulled from Afghanistan so far. A total of 10,000 will leave by the end of December and another 23,000 by the close of next summer. There are just under 100,000 US troops in Afghanistan now.

Allyn declined to say how many of his soldiers would depart Regional Command East -- a vast region including 14 provinces, a long stretch of poorly protected border with Pakistan and some of the country's most rugged, challenging terrain - but that it would not include front-line combat soldiers.

Reuters