Australia pledges extra $300 million for Afghan security forces

With the Afghan government struggling to contain a resurgent Taliban, Australia has also pledged ongoing funding to help prop up Afghan security forces.

The announcement comes two days after U.S. President Barack Obama said Washington would scale back plans to draw down troop numbers in Afghanistan, with 8,400 to remain there next year. “The truth is, this situation in Afghanistan has improved because of the strategy that we do have in place”.

A recent Pentagon report to Congress said casualties among Afghan forces rose 27 percent from January 1 to November 15 a year ago. During the meeting Duda welcomed President Obama decision that more United States troops could remain in Afghanistan till the end of January 2017.

Mr. Obama also directly addressed Taliban leaders, saying the extremist group has been unable to prevail, that Afghan Security Forces continue to grow stronger and that the USA commitment to the region’s stability will endure. McCain’s statement makes clear President Obama’s senior military commanders, including commanding general John Nicholson in Afghanistan, all requested the US keep its current presence of 9800 troops to assist the Afghan defense forces.

“But I don’t think the reductions that we are taking are going to impact the principal missions that we are doing, particularly with respect to the Afghan security forces”.

Senate Armed Services chairman John McCain (R-Ariz.) offered mild praise of the President’s decision Wednesday to keep more troops than planned in Afghanistan into 2017, while House Armed Services chairman Mac Thornberry (R-Texas) bemoaned the possibility of keeping troops without boosting defense spending.

“Some of our partners will continue to step up and support the levels that they have been, and some probably beyond the levels that they have been”, Gen. Votel said.

More than 2,000 American troops in Afghanistan belong to a counterterrorism mission called “Freedom’s Sentinel”, rooting out al-Qaida and Islamic State extremists. Republican Senator John McCain, a longtime critic of Obama’s military policies, welcomed the move, but said the president should have kept the entire 9,800 US troops in the country.

Taliban forces now hold more territory in Afghanistan than at any time since the 2001 USA -led invasion, according to recent United Nations estimates.

Votel suggested the drawdown might take place gradually over coming months, with some support for the USA forces in Afghanistan being drawn from outside the country. The United States has spent around $1 trillion in total since, and some 2,200 American lives have been lost in the longest war in USA history.