U.S. troop surge to aid Afghan police trainers

Source: Reuters

KABUL (Reuters) - The arrival of thousands of new U.S. troops to Afghanistan this year will help meet a serious shortage of U.S. police trainers who have so far coped with "less than ideal" circumstances, the U.S. military said on Tuesday.

The United States is to send 17,000 additional U.S. troops to the war-torn country to bolster some 70,000 foreign troops, including 38,000 U.S. soldiers, already on the ground battling a resurgent Taliban in the south and east.

But military commanders have recognized any "surge" in foreign troops can ultimately only buy time to expand the Afghan army and police which are seen as the long term solution to Afghanistan's security.

The United States, which took over as the primary trainer of the Afghan police in 2007, needs around 1,500 more soldiers to carry out its mentoring program, according to a U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) report released on Monday.



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