Gates: Taliban Getting Iranian Weapons
By ROBERT BURNS
Associated Press
June 5, 2007
Page 2 of 2
In an interview with reporters traveling with Gates, Khan said he is pushing the U.S. to accelerate the training and equipping of the Afghan National Army to hasten the day when it can fight the Taliban without relying on U.S. air and ground support.
''The problem we have is that we are not able to conduct operations independently,'' Khan said through an interpreter. He cited specifically a lack of Afghan air support and the kind of ''direct fire'' support provided by tanks. ''We are looking forward to the day when we can fight the enemy independently.''
The general was asked how soon he thought his forces could function without U.S. military support.
''We ask for it to be as soon as possible,'' he replied. ''I will ask the secretary of defense to expedite the (training and equipping) process so we can do this. The only way to defeat the enemy is to become independent.''
The U.S. is committed to training and equipping an Afghan army of 70,000 soldiers, hoping to reach that figure by December 2008.
''It's not going to be enough,'' Khan said. ''We will ask for more.''
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Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
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