Afghan army to lead military operations, supported by US-led coalition

The Afghan army will take the lead in nearly all military operations in eastern Afghanistan this year, with U.S. troops in a support role, a top American general said.

Since the first major Afghan-led operation last July in southern Ghazni province, U.S. troops have been training their Afghan counterparts across the country to take over a larger share of the security responsibilities.

"Our intention is for all 2008 operations in Regional Command East to be led by Afghan National Security Forces with enabling assistance (fire support and medical evacuation in particular) from coalition forces," Brig. Gen. Joseph Votel, deputy commanding general for operations for American forces in Afghanistan, wrote in an e-mail Wednesday.

"It is very seldom that coalition forces do something by themselves without Afghan participation _ and the level that we are now at is Afghans leading and coalition force supporting ... and performing operations that support the (Afghan) commander," he said.

Afghanistan had a strong army under communist rule in the 1980s, but it fell apart during the civil war a decade later. A new army was formed from scratch in 2002, after the fall of the Taliban.

The Afghan Defense Ministry plans to expand its 50,000-strong army to 70,000 troops by the end of this year, though it has said an army of 200,000 would be ideal. U.S. officials are now considering a proposal to expand the Afghan army's target strength from 70,000 to 80,000.

The international community is banking on the development of the Afghan army so that it can eventually withdraw its forces. There are more than 50,000 foreign troops in the country, including about 25,000 U.S. forces.

Lt. Col. Steven A. Baker, the commander in charge of Forward Operating Base Shank in Logar province, said that he has seen the Afghan soldiers improve dramatically from "zero" just over a year ago.

"Our objective is to have them take the lead in everything, so that we're going into more of a support and education role so that our kids don't have to come here," he said.

"Their abilities on the ground, tactically, are very good," Baker said. "They're very brave soldiers. You get in a fight, and they're with you 100 percent, but the planning and logistics piece is what we're working on."

Afghanistan in 2007 saw a record year of insurgent violence. More than 6,500 people _ mostly militants _ died, according to an Associated Press count based on official figures.