December 18, 2008	Thursday	Zilhaj 19, 1429

KABUL, Dec 17: A top Nato commander said Wednesday Afghanistan’s dire security situation will improve next year as more foreign troops arrive and the new US administration takes office. Security in Afghanistan has deteriorated every year since a US-led invasion in 2001 toppled the Taliban.

The insurgency being waged by the Taliban and their Al Qaeda allies reached a new peak this year with the deaths of around 2,000 civilians, 1,000 Afghan security forces and 281 foreign soldiers.

But Lieutenant General Jim Dutton, deputy commander of Nato’s International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), said plans to boost the Afghan army and police force and increase the number of foreign troops would turn things around.

“There are some causes for optimism. Things should get better, not worse, in 2009,” he told reporters in Kabul.

“We have a new US administration coming into power with fresh ideas, many of which we already know.” US president-elect Barack Obama, who takes over from George W. Bush next month, has vowed to send thousands more troops to tackle the insurgency in Afghanistan.

Dutton said improved coordination between Afghan, Nato and Pakistani forces along the border between the two countries and an increase in the number of Afghan security forces also gave him cause for optimism.

Afghan officials and western military commanders allege that militants are crossing the border from Pakistan to carry out attacks on Afghan targets and accuse Pakistan of failing to stop cross-border attacks.

Taliban militants are most active in southern and eastern Afghanistan, along the long and porous border with Pakistan.

Afghanistan plans to build a 134,000-strong army by 2012, with the help of the international community. A police force of almost the same size is also planned.

More than 80,000 Afghan soldiers and a similar number of police have been trained since 2001 to fight alongside 70,000 foreign forces against Taliban insurgents.

“Few armies in the world would be capable of doubling their size while at the same time fighting an insurgency but the Afghans seem quite capable of doing that,” the general said.—AFP