Afghanistan Times
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AT-KABUL: The NATO Secretary General said Wednesday of increasing more troops to Afghanistan in order to overcome the stalemate and to further enhance capabilities of Afghan special forces is expected to be taken in the month of June.
“We have recently completed our regular review of our training mission. And our military commanders have asked for a few thousand more troops. We are currently in the process of force generation and I expect final decisions to be taken next month,” speaking ahead of NATO meeting, the allies Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told media men.
Commenting on the challenging situation in the country, he emphasized on negotiations and political settlement of the Afghan conflict and urged Moscow to be a “part of an Afghan-led process”.
He also hailed the Afghan security forces for chasing bravely insurgency across the country.
“We have also transformed our approach to fighting terrorism. In Afghanistan, we have moved from a combat role to a training role. This has shown us the value of supporting local forces in their fight against terrorism.”
At the moment, the NATO member countries have about 13,000 troops in the country, of which about 8,400 are American troops.
Recently, the U.S.-led NATO commander in Afghanistan, General John Nicholson, has demanded for a “few thousand” troops to break the current – what he called “stalemate” in the country.
The U.S. and its allies are expected to deploy 3,000 to 5,000 additional troops to assist, train and support the Afghan forces, but already a number of countries including Germany have announced that it is not looking to increase its presence in Afghanistan.
On Thursday, heads of State and Government in NATO would meet in Brussels where the U.S. President Donald has to participate as well in order to discuss NATO’s contribution to fight against terrorism and burden-sharing.
