WASHINGTON – Afghan president Hamid Karzai said yesterday he supported Gen Stanley McChrystal’s assessment on Afghanistan and would welcome more US troops.
Gen McChrystal, the top US and Nato commander in Afghanistan, is advocating a beefed-up counterinsurgency strategy that would include deploying 40,000 additional troops next year. “I’m fully behind him for what he is seeking in his report,” Mr Karzai said in an interview on ABC’s Good Morning America. Asked whether he would welcome additional troops, he replied: “Yes.”
The US is expected to have 68,000 troops in Afghanistan by later this year.
US president Barack Obama is expected to make a decision on a new Afghanistan strategy over the next several weeks.
Mr Karzai said the number of troops would have to be determined by military experts. It was a professional matter that professionals would have to discuss and then decide, he said. – (Reuters)