US won't leave in 2014 if Afghans not ready: Biden

KABUL: US Vice President Joe Biden said Tuesday that his country will not withdraw from Afghanistan in 2014 if Afghans did not want the United States to pull back its troops.

There are about 97,000 American troops in Afghanistan who, under Washington's plan, are expected to start withdrawing in July ahead of the scheduled transfer of responsibility for security to Afghan forces in 2014.

But Biden, on the second day of his visit to the war-torn country, told a press conference in Kabul: "We're not leaving if you don't want us to leave."