"We are regularly hearing from Africa that we are outnumbered by the Chinese diplomats working on economic or other issues 4 or 5 to 1. We cannot continue to concentrate all that money in Afghanistan and Iraq", a senior US State Department official told the publication.
The publication's sources clarified that the number of US diplomats stationed in Kabul is planned to be halved by 2020. According to a plan that has yet to be approved, between 20 and 30 US diplomats in Iraq may lose their positions this year, and another 30-50 percent of the staff of US diplomatic missions in Baghdad and Erbil may be cut next year.
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According to the magazine, these plans are consistent with Washington's intention to reduce military presence in the Middle East and South Asia in order to prepare for the so-called era of great-power competition with China and Russia.
*Al-Qaedai s a terrorist organisation banned in Russia