(US/NATO) Afghanistan Forces Face Four More Years of Combat, Warns Nato Official

[tekisui]

Source: Guardian

British and other foreign troops deployed in Afghanistan face a "very tough" time ahead and can expect to be engaged in a combat role for three or four more years, Nato's most senior civilian official in the country said today.

Mark Sedwill, a former UK ambassador to Afghanistan, warned of further troop deaths in the region, saying: "We cannot allow judgment of success to be the absence of casualties."

Speaking on the margins of a Royal United Services Institute conference in London, Sedwill laid out crucial steps towards ending the conflict, to be taken over the next few months.

A "critical test" would be the imminent operation in Kandahar designed to improve security and governance in the Taliban's heartland, he said.

That operation was not primarily a military one, Nato insists. However, as more troops are engaged in counter-insurgency operations in southern Afghanistan, it was inevitable there would be more casualties, Sedwill said.

more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/apr/29/afghanistan-combat-nato-official

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NATO/US forces engaged in combat until 2014. :banghead:

[G_j]

1. training and mentoring local forces, for a further 10 to 15 years

"they could be expected to remain in Afghanistan, training and mentoring local forces, for a further 10 to 15 years.
Barack Obama has indicated that the number of US troops in Afghanistan – still rising – will begin to fall from July 2011. However, Sedwill suggested that the number of UK forces would not start to shrink at the same time as they would be needed to train Afghan troops. Senior Nato officials say they are seriously concerned about the shortage of experienced troops to train local forces."

[tekisui]

2. We'll still be saying 'Out of Afghanistan' in 2020. Christ.

[Robb]

3. No

...but it they may be saying that in the UK. Sedwill is only speaking of British forces.

[tekisui]

4. We'll be there longer than the UK.