President Barack Obama’s decision to withdraw roughly 1,400 U.S. troops from Afghanistan won’t adversely impact America’s mission there, a top general said before arriving in Kabul on Friday, adding that some jobs could be done from abroad.Mr. Obama on Wednesday shelved his plans to cut the U.S. force nearly in half by year’s end, from 9,800 to 5,500. He opted instead for a more limited withdrawal to roughly 8,400 troops, noting that Afghan forces still needed U.S. support battling the Taliban insurgency after nearly 15 years of war.

In his first comments since Mr. Obama’s announcement, General Joseph Votel, the head of the U.S. military’s Central Command, played down any impact of the looming troop withdrawal even as he acknowledged Afghan forces were suffering heavy casualties.A recent Pentagon report to Congress said casualties among Afghan forces rose 27 per cent from Jan. 1 to Nov. 15 last year.“It’s difficult. They’re taking a lot of casualties. That’s a concern. We’ll have to pay attention to that,” Gen. Votel told a small group of reporters travelling with him to Afghanistan.

“But I don’t think the reductions that we are taking are going to impact the principal missions that we are doing, particularly with respect to the Afghan security forces.”Taliban forces now hold more territory in Afghanistan than at any time since the 2001 U.S.-led invasion, according to recent U.N. estimates. The Islamic State group has also established a small presence in Afghanistan.Republican critics of Mr. Obama questioned why, given Afghanistan’s security concerns, he was still intent on cutting the force at all. Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain said it was difficult to discern “any strategic rationale” for the cut.

Gen. Votel noted that Mr. Obama’s decision to keep 8,400 troops in the country was welcomed by allies, who are expected to broadly reaffirm their commitments to Afghanistan at a NATO summit on Warsaw on Friday and Saturday.“It sends a very hopeful message here for the coalition and I think it will encourage our partners to continue to contribute,” Gen. Votel said.Gen. Votel suggested the drawdown might take place gradually over coming months, with some support for the U.S. forces in Afghanistan being drawn from outside the country.“We’re going to achieve those reductions by moving some capabilities out that can be conducted over the horizon – that don’t necessarily need to be done in Afghanistan – to support the force,” he said, without elaborating.

The death toll from an attack on a Shia shrine north of Baghdad has risen to 37, with 62 people wounded, Iraqi officials said on Friday.The assault on the revered shrine comes less than a week after a bombing in central Baghdad claimed by the Islamic State group killed at least 186 people, fuelling anger at the Iraqi government’s security failings.

Volley of mortar fire

The attack began with a volley of mortar fire on Sayyid Mohammed shrine and a nearby market in Balad, 80 kilometres north of the Iraqi capital, late on Thursday night.A suicide bomber first targeted policemen guarding the shrine’s entrance, allowing a second bomber to push into the courtyard with nine gunmen, who targeted security forces and civilians who had gathered inside to celebrate Id-ul-Fitr, the holiday marking the end of the holy month of Ramadan. A third bomber was killed before he detonated his explosives, police officials said. Police and hospital officials confirmed the death toll, speaking anonymously as they were not authorised to release information to the media.

Anger and protests in Baghdad

In Baghdad, anger and protests were growing outside the scene of last weekend’s car bomb attack, which was one of the deadliest since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.Many Iraqis blame their political leadership for security lapses that allow such large-scale bombings to happen in territory far from the frontline fighting against the Islamic State (IS).

Such blasts a near-daily affair

Small-scale bombings occur on a near-daily basis in Baghdad, and in May a string of larger attacks, many of them claimed by the IS, killed more than 200 people in a single week.The IS was pushed out of Fallujah last month after holding the city just west of Baghdad for more than two years. Despite a string of territorial defeats, the IS still holds pockets of territory in northern and western Iraq, including the country’s second largest city of Mosul.

3 top officials dismissed

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi on Friday dismissed three top officials in charge of Baghdad’s security after the bombing.A statement posted on his Facebook page said he had fired the commander of military operations, security services and intelligence in the capital.