Pakistan Expels British Trainers

Posted June 27th, 2011 at 3:20 am (UTC-5)
Leave a comment

A British newspaper says Pakistan has expelled a team of British military trainers sent to help in the fight against the Taliban and al-Qaida.

The Guardian reported Sunday that Britain's Ministry of Defense has confirmed the expulsion of at least 18 military advisers who were part of the $24-million-dollar program to train the paramilitary Frontier Corps.

The newspaper says the military withdrawal is “fallout” from the U.S. raid in May in Pakistan that killed al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden. The publication reports the repercussions from the raid continue to “rock relations” between Islamabad and its Western allies.

The Guardian reports the British defense ministry said the military withdrawal is “temporary” and was requested by the Pakistani government in response to “security concerns.”

The trainers were deployed to Pakistan last August and were scheduled to remain there until 2013, according to the newspaper account.

The Guardian says the ministry hopes to redeploy the trainers once “tensions abate.”