US General Sees Afghan Army Swelling to 130,000

US General Sees Afghan Army Swelling to 130,000 (NSI News Source Info) BRUSSELS - September 3, 2008: A U.S. general said Sept. 3 that he expected the numbers of the Afghan army to swell by nearly double to more than 130,000 troops. "We envisage a 122,000-strong structure, with a total of 134,000 personnel, the extra 12,000 allowing to keep a lot of people in school and training," Maj. Gen. Robert Cone said. However Cone, who is in charge of helping to train the Afghan army, did not say how long he expected it to take to assemble a force of 134,000. Originally, about 90,000 troops were targeted by 2009. Currently, the Afghan army counts about 60,000 soldiers on the ground with 8,000 in training, Cone said from Kabul through a video conference beamed to NATO's Brussels' headquarters. "There has been a growing trend in enemy (Taliban) activities," he said. "The Afghans feel very strongly about their ability to defend their country," he said. "I personally believe the best people to defend Afghanistan are Afghans." He said that the Afghan forces now even had an "air corps," dedicated primarily to transporting troops and equipment. NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) has about 53,000 troops operating in the country under a U.N. mandate to help give security support to the Afghan government. There are 17,000 more troops in an international coalition, under direct U.S. command, charged more specifically with hunting down al-Qaida extremists.