KABUL - The US military has withdrawn 10,000 troops from Afghanistan before a year-end deadline set by President Barack Obama, Officials said on Friday.
The withdrawal left about 91,000 US troops on the ground in Afghanistan, a military spokesman, Bill Speaks, has said.

This is the first step in a planned drawdown of combat troops through 2014. The 23,000 surge troops to leave Afghanistan by the end of summer 2012 as planned.

US and NATO are planning to hand over full security responsibility to Afghan security forces by the end of 2014, allowing the withdrawal of all combat forces.

The US has lost 1858 soldiers in the Afghan war since it started its mission in the country, according to icasualties.org, a website that keeps a tally of foreign soldiers' deaths.