The Afghan army will be ready to take full responsibility for security in the war-torn Central Asian state in three years, the country's defense minister said on Monday.
Abdul Rahim Wardak said the Afghan government planned to boost troop numbers to 171,600 in two years and also to increase police numbers to 134,000 in the same period to turn the tide in the fight against the mounting Taliban insurgency.
Wardak said these plans received wide support at a recent international conference on Afghanistan in London. He also urged the West to provide more military instructors to train the Afghan army and police.
There are over 100,000 foreign troops in Afghanistan, mostly from the United States, and in December U.S. President Barack Obama announced the deployment of an additional 30,000 troops in the country in the first part of 2010.
However, with mounting deaths among troops, the Western allies hope to start a gradual withdrawal as early as in 2011, transferring security tasks to the Afghan army and police.
Most of the international military contingent in Afghanistan currently consists of combat troops, with only several thousand assigned to a separate training command for the Afghan army and police.
KABUL, February 1 (RIA Novosti)
