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NATO commander in Afghanistan: "We are not losing" the war
Published in Saudi Press Agency on 12 - 10 - 2008


General David McKiernan, top US commander in
Afghanistan said on Sunday that that alliance was not losing the war
against the resurgent Taliban in Afghanistan and called on
troop-contributing countries to send more soldiers and military gear
in order to reach success quicker, DPA reported.
The comment by McKiernan, who commands NATO forces in country,
came amid concerns by other NATO officials, who warned of failure in
the fight against the Taliban and their al-Qaeda associates in
Afghanistan.
Brigadier Mark Carleton-Smith of the British command in
Afghanistan had said earlier this month, "We're not going to win this
war" and said "It's about reducing it to a manageable level of
insurgency that's not a strategic threat and can be managed by the
Afghan army."
"I absolutely reject that idea, and I don't believe it," McKiernan
told a news conference in the capital Kabul, but admitted that there
were problems before the Afghan government and the alliance that
served as obstacles to ending the lingering insurgency.
"It is true that in many places in this country, we don't have an
acceptable level of security. We don't have good governance. We don't
have socio-economic progress, and we don't have schools being opened
up, but we are not losing in Afghanistan," the US general said.
There are around 70,000 international troops in Afghanistan,
almost half of them US soldiers, while more than 150,000 Afghan
police and army forces are also fighting Taliban militants, who have
waged a bloody insurgency following their ouster from power in late
2001.
McKiernan also called on the 40-nation NATO-led International
Security Assistance Force (ISAF) to send more troops and military
gear to contain the insurgency in the country.
"We have insufficient security forces to adequately provide for
the security of the people of Afghanistan," he said, adding that
until the Afghan security forces could stand on its own feet, the
will of the international community to provide military capability
remained "paramount" to the future of the war-torn country.


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