US sees three more years in building Afghan army
By Will Dunham | July 13, 2006
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - It will take three more years for the U.S.-trained Afghan army, intended to assume security responsibilities now shouldered by foreign forces in Afghanistan, to reach the planned goal of 70,000 soldiers, a U.S. commander said on Thursday.
Army Maj. Gen. Robert Durbin, who heads the U.S. effort to train and equip Afghan government security forces, said the national army numbers "a little bit over 30,000," and that it is growing at a rate of 1,000 per month, with a plan to reach 70,000 in roughly three years.
As in Iraq, U.S. officials have emphasized the importance of forming capable government security forces to take up the task of bringing law and order to a war-ravaged country. U.S. commanders in Iraq have pledged to have a 137,500-strong Iraqi army fully manned by the end of this year.
It has been almost five years since U.S.-led forces toppled Afghanistan's Taliban leaders, blamed for harboring the al Qaeda network responsible for the 2001 attacks on America, and U.S. forces have been helping build a new national army from scratch in a country battered by decades of strife.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2006/07/13/us_sees_three_more_years_in_building_afghan_armyBombs, Mortars Strike Mosques in Baghdad
Bombs, Mortars Strike Baghdad Mosques; Sectarian Attacks Have Killed More Than 250 PeopleBy KIM GAMEL
The Associated Press
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Bombs and mortars struck Shiite and Sunni mosques in the Baghdad area Friday, the latest in a week of tit-for-tat sectarian attacks that have killed more than 250 people.
The deadliest explosion came as worshippers left services at a Sunni mosque in northern Baghdad, killing 14 people and wounding five, police said.
Snip...
In March, President Bush praised American efforts to stabilize Tal Afar, saying he had "confidence in our strategy" and that success in the city "gives reason for hope for a free Iraq."
Also Friday, Iraq's national wrestling team pulled out of a tournament in the United Arab Emirates after its coach was killed in an attack in Baghdad, sports reporter Sagban al-Rubaie said, acting as a spokesman for the team.
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=2193193&page=1Insurgents have killed two more of our troops in Iraq. A sailor and a naval construction regiment was killed in Al Anbar province, and a soldier was killed in the northern city of Mosul.
2,545 of our troops have now been killed in Iraq, 18,874 troops have been wounded, 8,628 seriously wounded.
Democratic senators today blasted the Bush administration's conduct of the war in Iraq. Democratic members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee said Iraq is facing a full-scale civil war. The senators' comments come one day after the U.S. commanding general in Iraq said our troops could be called back to patrol the streets of Baghdad.
Jamie McIntyre reports from the Pentagon.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SR. PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In a week in which more than 180 Iraqis have died in sectarian attacks, at least 100 killed in Baghdad alone, the U.S. ambassador to Iraq was on Capitol Hill arguing that the rising violence between Sunni and Shia factions is not the start of a civil war.
SEN. JOHN KERRY (D), MASSACHUSETTS: Is it a low-grade civil war?
ZALMAY KHALIZAD, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO IRAQ: I have to think that whether it's going to become a civil war, whatever the term of "full blown" or not, will be something that we judge later on with regard to what happened. Subsequently, we -- it would be, I think, a mistake to judge it, that this is the beginning of an overall civil war.
KERRY: Let's not quibble over the descriptive term. Let's agree that violence is up, it's increased sectarian violence.
KHALILZAD: It is.
KERRY: The heart of the question is if, you would agree it can't be resolved militarily?
KHALILZAD: I agree, I say the following, Senator Kerry, which is that in order to deal with this problem, you need both political steps and security steps.
MCINTYRE: In a speech this week in Washington, Ambassador Khalilzad said the violence between Shia and Sunni Iraqis has now surpassed the insurgency as the biggest threat to Iraq's future. Now he's telling congress, time is running out.
KHALILZAD: I believe that this government has about six months or so to bring the sectarian violence under control. And if it doesn't, then I think we would have a serious situation.
MCINTYRE: Violence is rising despite the dispatch of 50,000 Iraqi troops in Baghdad, forcing U.S. Commander General George Casey to consider bringing more American troops back into the capital city. Critics, including some senators just back from Iraq, say the current strategy is simply not working.
SEN. JOSEPH BIDEN (D-DE), FOREIGN AFFAIRS CMTE: I still don't see a strategy for, a clear strategy for victory in Iraq. I do see a strategy for preventing things from outright defeat. But I don't, I haven't come away with a clear strategy for victory.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MCINTYRE: Meanwhile, the much anticipated announcement on U.S. troop cuts is still on hold, something Ambassador Khalilzad today described as simply an intent, a goal. And he insisted that General George Casey has not drawn up a firm timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. troops because of the uncertainty of the months ahead. Lou?
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0607/13/ldt.01.html
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