A new US proposal to cut the size of Afghan security forces by one-third after 2014 could lead to a catastrophe, the Afghan defence minister has warned.
The minister, Gen Abdul Rahim Wardak expressed his concerns after the US circulated a new proposal to cut troops to 230,000 after 2014 from the current size of 352,000.
The cut-back in Afghan forces would cost $4.1 billion a year, a top US commander Lt Gen Daniel Bolger, head of the NATO training mission in Afghanistan has said.
"Nobody at this moment can predict what will be the security situation in 2014, that's unpredictable", Wardak told The Wall Street Journal.
He warned that any cut-back in Afghan forces must be based on ground realities, "otherwise it will be a disaster, it will be catastrophe".
The proposal for troop reduction was discussed at the NATO ministerial meeting in Brussels and was confirmed by Bolger, the paper said.
The Afghan defence minister has long campaigned for even a larger force than the presently deployed saying to implement a successful counter-insurgency strategy would require between 400,000 to 500,000 troops.
