The British government said on Tuesday it was making up to 5,300 army personnel redundant as part of cuts that will see troop numbers brought to the lowest levels since the early 19th century.
The Ministry of Defence said soldiers returning from or heading to Afghanistan would be exempt from the cuts, the third such round under a programme that will see the army reduced from 102,000 regular troops to 82,000 by 2020.
“Today the Army are announcing the fields from which they will select personnel to be made redundant in the third tranche of the programme; this will comprise up to 5,300 Army Personnel,” junior defence minister Mark Francois said.
But he insisted: “The redundancy programme will not impact adversely on current operations in Afghanistan.”
Britain still has about 9,000 troops in Afghanistan ahead of a scheduled withdrawal next year.
The Conservative-led coalition government of Prime Minister David Cameron, which is trying to shrink Britain’s massive deficit, has already announced that reservist numbers will be doubled to 30,000 by 2018 to help fill the shortfall.
Britain’s navy and air force are also shedding 5,000 posts each under the Strategic Defence and Security Review announced in 2010, while the Ministry of Defence is losing 25,000 civilian jobs.