NATO Chief Confident Afghanistan Will Have More Troops

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Source: VOA

The NATO secretary-general says he is confident the United States and other NATO allies will send more troops to Afghanistan, where insurgent attacks have surged in recent months.

He spoke at the NATO Parliamentary Assembly Meeting in Edinburgh, where Britain's foreign secretary outlined the strategy his nation would support.

NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen made clear that despite an intensifying insurgency and uncertainty over whether U.S. President Barack Obama will send more troops, NATO will remain in Afghanistan.

"Do not make any mistake, we will stay in Afghanistan as long as it takes to finish our job. But that is of course not forever," he said.

Mr. Rasmussen said he is confident there will soon be substantially more troops and with that, new momentum for the mission.

"Our mission in Afghanistan ends when the Afghans are capable to secure and run their country themselves. The way forward is to hand over lead responsibility for security to the Afghan security forces, district by district, province by province, as their own capacity develops," he said.


more: http://www.voanews.com/english/2009-11-17-voa9.cfm