AFGHANISTAN: : Defence minister Abdul Rahim Wardak says foreign fighters coming from Iraq
Record ID:
1537883
AFGHANISTAN: : Defence minister Abdul Rahim Wardak says foreign fighters coming from Iraq
- Title: AFGHANISTAN: : Defence minister Abdul Rahim Wardak says foreign fighters coming from Iraq
- Date: 5th February 2009
- Summary: KABUL, AFGHANISTAN (FEBRUARY 4, 2009) (REUTERS) AFGHAN MINISTER OF DEFENCE ABDUL RAHIM WARDAK WALKING INTO CONFERENCE ROOM JOURNALIST WRITING (SOUNDBITE) (English) AFGHAN DEFENCE MINISTER ABDUL RAHIM WARDAK SAYING: "Since last year, as the result of the success of the surge in Iraq, there has been a flow of foreign terrorists into Afghanistan. There has been engagement this year, in 2008, that in some of these engagements, actually 60 percent of the total force which we have encountered were foreign, foreign fighters." NEWS CONFERENCE ON PROGRESS END OF THE NEWS CONFERENCE
- Embargoed: 20th February 2009 17:07
- Keywords:
- Location: Afghanistan
- Country: Afghanistan
- Topics: International Relations,Defence / Military
- Reuters ID: LVABMWYDH7W9QZBL4VJB3SN4YOQX
- Aspect Ratio: 4:3
- Story Text: Afghan Defence Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak says the U.S. troop 'surge' in Iraq is causing an influx of foreigners who are fighting alongside the Taliban.
With a reduction of violence in Iraq, foreign militants are now flooding into Afghanistan to join Taliban militants battling Afghan and international troops, the Afghan defence minister said on Wednesday (February 4) Afghanistan saw a 33 percent increase in insurgent attacks last year, according to NATO-led forces and violence is expected to rise further in 2009.
The number of Taliban fighters currently stands at some 15,000, Defence Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak said, but their numbers were being swelled by foreign insurgents moving into Afghanistan from Iraq following a U.S. troop "surge" there.
"Since last year, as the result of the success of the surge in Iraq, there has been a flow of foreign terrorists into Afghanistan. There has been engagement this year, in 2008, that in some of these engagements, actually 60 percent of the total force which we have encountered were foreign, foreign fighters," Wardak said at a news conference in Kabul.
Wardak was speaking after he and Afghan President Hamid Karzai held talks with NATO's supreme allied commander for Europe, U.S. General John Craddock.
The talks focused on training and equipping the Afghan army, which the U.S. military aims to increase from some 80,000 troops now to 134,000 in 2012, the planned deployment the extra U.S. soldiers and ways of reducing civilians casualties, Wardak said.
U.S. President Barack Obama is expected to approve as early as this week plans to send up to 17,000 more combat troops to Afghanistan to add to the 36,000 American soldiers already battling Taliban insurgents in the country.
The additional U.S. forces will focus on hitting militant communication lines and their cross-border infiltration into Afghanistan from Pakistan. The extra troops will reduce reliance on air strikes, cutting civilian deaths, Wardak said.
Civilian casualties caused by international forces have eroded support for Karzai and the presence of foreign troops in Afghanistan more than seven years since the Taliban's removal.
More than 2,100 civilians were killed in Afghanistan in 2008, the United Nations said on Tuesday, more than a third of them by Afghan and international troops.
Wardak said the issue has been a source of tension with the foreign troops, but said the two sides had realised that winning public support was essential in defeating the militants. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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