Afghan Defense Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak on Thursday called on the international community to help strengthen Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) and enable it to completely take security charge of the country.
"We are asking the international community and everybody to accelerate the growth of ANSF both in quality and quantity," Wardak told newsmen at a video conference arranged by Brussels ahead of NATO summit.
He also stressed that it is the responsibility of Afghans to ensure the security of their country.
"Generally we Afghans believe here the only sustained way in long term to secure Afghanistan is to enable the Afghans themselves," Wardak emphasized.
He also added that the Afghan National Security Forces still do not have all the necessary equipment to lead the military operations against militants in the country.
"We still need to rely on NATO and the Coalition for air support, fire support and some logistic," the minister noted.
He made these remarks one week ahead of NATO summit in Bucharest where Afghanistan issue would be discussed and the alliance would issue a statement in support of the military pact in Afghanistan.
Commenting on Taliban outfit's threat and launching the so-called spring offensive, he downplayed the threat but adding that the militants would be heavily relying on IEDs (Improvised Explosive Devices) and suicide bombing.
Replying a question on the present strength of Afghan National Army, the Defense Minister said that "some 80,000 is too low. We want to have more troops."
Source:Xinhua
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