Afghan forces increase pressure on Taliban: NATO chief

KABUL from the current 13,000 troops to 16,000, the alliance chief said Thursday.

Speaking at the launch of his Annual Report for 2017 in Brussels, Belgium, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said they had stepped up efforts to project stability beyond the alliance border to contribute to the fight against terrorism.

“Our mission in Afghanistan, NATO’s largest, is helping to train Afghan forces, so that they can fight terrorism and secure their own country,” said Stoltenberg.

“We have decided to increase the size of our Resolute Support training mission from 13,000 to around 16,000.”

He said with NATO assistance, Afghan forces had increased military pressure on the Taliban to ensure they did not achieve their strategic objective of capturing a provincial capital in 2017.

The secretary general said NATO strongly supported an Afghan-led, Afghan-owned peace and reconciliation process.

“I commend President Ghani for his courageous leadership. His offer to the Taliban is the clearest invitation to peace yet. So I call on the Taliban to come to the negotiating table.”

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