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| Afghanistan |
| Afghan troops ready for bulk of fight: U.S. general |
| 2008-05-23 |
| Major General Robert W. Cone said Afghan authorities aimed to have 80,000 trained personnel ready by early 2009, compared to just over 57,000 now, as part of an effort to share more of the burden of fighting with NATO countries. Asked what that meant for Afghan forces' ability to lead operations against Taliban and other insurgents, Cone told a news conference at NATO headquarters: "I would say leadership certainly of most operations and probably, depending on their readiness, tending towards virtually all operations. That will lift a significant amount of the burden from ISAF forces," he said of NATO's International Security Assistance Force, which commanders currently say numbers around 50,000. Cone, who leads the Combined Security Transition Command-Afghanistan (CSTC-A) training effort, said Afghan troops had led around half of 180 joint operations with international forces in the early months of this year. However, Afghan forces remain short of aircraft, and Cone acknowledged it could be another five years before they could conduct all their own air operations. "The hardest part is the dropping of bombs from the air. That will require significant training and we are thinking 2013 is when the Afghans will be capable of doing that," he said. NATO leaders pledged a long-term commitment to Afghanistan at a summit in April while agreeing to give Afghan authorities more control of the peace and reconstruction effort. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #2 Indeed. Just being able to shoot at the bad guys would be a big improvement. Even if it was only from 9 to 5. |
| Posted by: SteveS 2008-05-23 00:47 |
| #1 No doubt they'll do better than many of the NATO contingents, required as those are to do nothing about anything, and that only from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2008-05-23 00:17 |