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More trainers needed for Afghan army: US general
Washington (AFP) Nov 9, 2007 Twice as many instructors will be needed to train Afghan security forces than the number due to be deployed in Afghanistan next year, the US general in charge of the mission said Friday. "Our request for trainers is 3,400. That would give us a training team per district and a training team per military element. That is certainly an ideal situation," General Robert Livingston told a Pentagon briefing by video-link. But the US Army only plans to send an extra two battalions to Afghanistan in 2008, numbering between 1,200 to 1,400. "We are looking at US forces coming in a battalion size element in spring and possibly a battalion size element in the fall," he said. The lack of resources "certainly has made it more challenging," Livingston agreed, but seeking to downplay the situation, he added: "It is going to set us back probably much less than a year." Over the next year, the troop requirement would also drop, while NATO was due to start contributing forces towards training Afghan units, he said. As well as the 3,400 senior US officers providing training in Afghanistan there are also some 600 police officers and 125 Europeans, with their number starting to rise to 200. "If you total all the trainers we have throughout the country, we have 5,000 to 6,000 people directly involved in training and mentoring the Afghan security forces," Livingston said. Islamic Taliban militants have been leading an insurgency against the US-led coalition and NATO forces in Afghanistan since they were ousted from power in late 2001. Following US pressure, several NATO members including France agreed last month to send reinforcements to Afghanistan partly with the aim of training the Afghan army which is to boost its ranks over the coming years from 35,000 to 70,000 soldiers. The aim is for the Afghan army eventually to take over from the international forces, although this is unlikely to happen before 2011, according to NATO. Related Links News From Across The Stans
Commentary: New terrorist nexus
Washington (UPI) Nov 8, 2007 Iraq and President Bush's war on terrorism -- and Washington's inability to focus on more than one major foreign crisis at a time -- have overshadowed the geographic nexus of Islamist extremism. Afghanistan, where suicide bombers are now striking throughout the country; the Afghan-Pakistan border, where Taliban and al-Qaida have reconstituted their strongholds with virtual impunity; and a chaotic Pakistan, which many terrorists call home, should be the new U.S. geostrategic priorities. |
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