President Hamid Karzai tells that

Thursday, 10 December 2009 03:55

Afghan President Hamid Karzai said Tuesday it will be at least 15 years before his government can bankroll a security force strong enough to protect the country from the threat of insurgency.

Speaking at a news conference with U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Karzai repeated his claim that Afghan security forces would take the lead in securing the nation within five years, but said his nation would need financial help to pay the salaries and equip the growing army and police force.

Afghanistan wants to pay for its own forces, Karzai said. But he added, "For a number of years, maybe for another 15 to 20 years, Afghanistan will not be able to sustain a force of that nature and capability with its own resources." Gates is the first member of President Barack Obama's Cabinet to visit since Obama announced last week that he is sending 30,000 reinforcements to Afghanistan, but intends to pare down the U.S. role in July 2011. The defense secretary and other administration officials have described the 2011 date as just the beginning, with the process likely take at least two or three years to complete.

British Defense Secretary Bob Ainsworth also flew into Afghanistan on Tuesday to visit troops after the British death toll in the country rose to 100 this year, military officials said. Ainsworth arrived in the troubled southern province of Helmand, where he was due to meet British troops and Afghan officials on a visit expected to last several days, the defense ministry in London said. "Here in Afghanistan there is a sense of very real progress in this mission and that we are putting things where they need to be," he told Sky News television. "The mission in Afghanistan is of vital importance to our national security in the United Kingdom." Britain said it was sending an extra 500 troops to Afghanistan, tipping its own deployment over the 10,000 mark.