Afghanistan asks EU to send more trainers

BERLIN/WASHINGTON (AFP) - Afghanistan needs more European trainers for its security forces to combat mounting violence and mayhem in the country, its Foreign Minister told a German newspaper published Tuesday.
Rangin Dadfar Spanta told the Neue Osnabruecker Zeitung in an interview that the total number of Afghan soldiers, police and border guards must rise as soon as possible to 400,000 from around 160,000 currently. "The number of trainers from the EU and Germany is still too low," Spanta was quoted as saying.
"We are at the eye of the hurricane because the centres of activity for international terrorism are right in our backyard."
He noted the European Union had not met its commitment to boost its police mission to 400 officers from around 200 today. "We have been waiting for two years," he said.
Spanta said the situation in the capital Kabul threatened to spiral out of control without the firm hand of the law. "I do not want to compare Kabul to Berlin but for every 100 residents of Kabul there are fewer police than in the German capital," he said.
"And that is without Pakistan, the Taliban, with less corruption and - thank God - without the aftermath of 30 years of war."
Spanta said the Afghan army had taken over the command in 60pc of the anti-terror operations recently carried out.
Meanwhile, US Defence Secretary Robert who was due to depart for Europe on Tuesday for talks with Nato allies amid a concerted push by Washington to reverse the course of the seven-year-old war in Afghanistan.
Gates is due to discuss the outlook in volatile southern Afghanistan on Wednesday in Maastricht with Nato counterparts who have troops in the region. He then heads to Brussels on Thursday for a meeting of alliance defence ministers, the Pentagon said.
"They will discuss a range of organizational and security issues confronting the alliance, but, as you might expect, the NATO operations in Afghanistan will likely dominate their discussions," Defence Department press secretary Geoff Morrell told reporters on Monday.