Dushanbe, 16.06.2016. /NIAT “Khovar”/. The United States told allies on Wednesday it was reexamining plans to cut its troop numbers in Afghanistan next year, Britain said, as other NATO forces committed to stay on to help fight a resurgent Taliban, Reuters news agency report.

President Barack Obama has planned to slash the number of U.S. troops from about 9,800 to 5,500 before he leaves office in 2017, despite calls from former commanders and envoys to halt the drawdown.

«Everyone has an interest that our effort there is sustained,» Britain’s Defense Secretary Michael Fallon told reporters.

«That’s why as (U.S. Defense Secretary) Ash Carter told us, the troop numbers are being looked at again …This is the wrong time to walk away from Afghanistan.»

Carter declined to confirm that however, telling a news conference it was not formally a topic of discussion at a NATO ministers’ meeting on Wednesday. But he said Obama remained willing to review security in Afghanistan and its impact on force levels.

«The president has indicated consistently … he is willing to look at the U.S. force presence on the basis of circumstances in Afghanistan and he is expected to do that at the end of the year. He has expressed a willingness to do that but that was not a topic of discussion at today’s meeting, per se,» Carter said.

European allies are worried about a collapse of security in Afghanistan because of the increased numbers of refugees they fear it would bring as the continent is struggling to deal with uncontrolled migrant flows.