The U.S. military has doubled the
number of its soldiers embedded inside the Afghan army, a spokesman
said Sunday, bolstering a force that's supposed to relieve American and
NATO troops in warlord-plagued provinces and along the Pakistani
border. A group of 288 U.S. National Guard soldiers arrived in
Afghanistan (news - web sites) on Friday and Saturday to serve as
tactical trainers with the Afghan National Army, joining about 300
already embedded with Afghan units, Maj. Eric Bloom told The Associated
Press. "They have begun the one-week training program before they
deploy to the field to meet their (Afghan) counterparts," Bloom said.
Lt. Gen. David Barno, the top commander of American forces in
Afghanistan, requested the extra troops to accelerate the training of a
70,000-strong government force designed to tackle renegade faction
leaders and remnants of the ousted Taliban. The U.S. military says that
three years after the fall of the Taliban the hardline militia's
resistance is waning. The military says it is still conducting
operations during the traditionally quieter winter months but has
reported few contacts with insurgents. Much of the country is
immobilized by freezing temperatures and heavy snow. The bad weather
"has slowed us down some, but it hasn't stopped us carrying out
security operations," said U.S. spokesman Maj. Steve Wollman.
"Helicopters give us a great advantage to get over snow-covered roads."
U.S. and Afghan officials insist that many Taliban have signaled their
readiness to make peace. Obaidullah, however, claimed no Taliban
representatives has had talks "with invaders." "We consider jihad is
the only way to force them leave our country. We will fight with them.
Dialogue is not a solution," he said. With both the United States and
Britain considering a long-term "strategic partnership" with
Afghanistan, it is unclear just when the new Afghan force will allow
foreign troops to begin reducing their expensive deployment here since
the ouster of the Taliban in 2001. [more]
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