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NATO's top commander has voiced confidence that the military alliance in Afghanistan will prevail despite a surge of insurgent violence and deadly fighting in the south of the country.
Speaking at the opening of a new intelligence-gathering centre on Monday, General James Jones notably expressed concern about the porous Afghan-Pakistan border across which Taliban fighters enter and leave violence-wracked Afghanistan.
“We all feel the stress and strain of ongoing operations,” he said, but added: “Everybody's working very hard to make sure that we have the right amount of forces at the right place at the time.”
He pointed out that in Afghanistan there were 37 nations “dedicated to a very important mission, one that I personally believe has all of the ingredients for a success.
“I'm looking forward to doing everything I can to make sure that success comes about just as quickly as possible so we can get our troops home,” he added.
NATO assumed command of foreign forces throughout Afghanistan this month, taking charge of the east of the country from the US-led coalition that toppled the Taliban regime five years ago.
The Taliban insurgency has worsened dramatically in recent months, with insurgents killing scores of foreign and Afghan troops in mass attacks and also intensifying a vicious campaign of suicide and roadside bombings.
In the latest violence, two NATO soldiers were killed in Afghanistan Saturday, while a governor escaped an assassination attempt and officials reported 12 more deaths in Taliban-linked violence.
Another three soldiers from the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) were wounded in the attack in the southern province of Kandahar, NATO said.
Militants are widely believed to move with ease across the rugged border with Pakistan, though Pakistan says the 80,000 troops it has along the frontier prevent any major incursions.
Jones admitted that the border was a problem. “It's clear that the border is not a sealed border,” he said, when asked if Pakistan's behaviour was leading indirectly to the deaths of NATO soldiers in Afghanistan.
But he said: “I quite understand the concerns of our troops on the ground … and we are going to be working on this problem assiduously in the weeks and months ahead.”
The NATO general played down concerns about the need for more troops, saying NATO member states — including Poland, Canada, Romania and Norway — had responded to recent appeals for reinforcements.
“I believe there are other nations which will, when they are ready, make similar announcements,” he said.
“Bit by bit we are getting up to the totals that we need and I'm quite content with the pace. We still need a little bit more mobility, a little bit more maneuverability.”
Jones was speaking at the opening of the Intelligence Fusion Centre at an air base in Molesworth, north of London. The IFC aims to speed up the collection and distribution of military intelligence for NATO operations.
