Afghan army has its quota of troops

Calcutta News.Net
Wednesday 11th August, 2010

The Afghan army has managed to hit its target of 134,000 troops.

Afghanistan’s army had been aiming for 171,000 troops by late next year, but an October deadline for 134,000 has been met two months ahead of schedule.

The Afghanistan Defence Ministry has said the help of Western backers had allowed the army to rebuild to the current level, so it can take responsibility for security from US-led NATO forces by 2014.

US General David Petraeus, the commander of the US-led NATO force in Afghanistan, has hailed the army's growth as being of central importance to the coalition's efforts to stabilise the country.

In a statement he said: "It is truly remarkable that we are able to congratulate the defence ministry today for achieving their strength goal for October two months ahead of schedule."

In Afghanistan the Taliban still controls large swathes of the south of the country and have resisted a major surge of foreign troops up to now.

Another insurgent attack on Wednesday killed a NATO soldier in the south.

His death brings the overall number of foreign troops killed in Afghanistan this year to 427.

In 2009, the overall toll was 520.

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