KABUL, Afghanistan - Hundreds of French troops have been deployed to train and mentor Afghan security forces in a key southern province wracked by the Taliban-led insurgency, NATO said Thursday. Eight Taliban militants were also killed in the south, authorities said.
The troops travelled in 94 vehicles from Kandahar to Uruzgan province Wednesday in what was one of the largest ground military convoys in southern Afghanistan in years, the military alliance said in a statement.
NATO did not provide the exact number of troops deployed, and officials would not specify whether they were being relocated from other areas in Afghanistan or were new to the country.
But France has about 1,500 troops in Afghanistan, and French President Nicolas Sarkozy has pledged to send 700 more soldiers by the end of the year to help NATO-led forces.
The Taliban, who are resurgent in Afghanistan nearly seven years after being ousted from power in a U.S.-led invasion, have frequently clashed with foreign and Afghan troops in Uruzgan.
Underscoring the regions volatility, police clashed with Taliban insurgents in Zhari district of Kandahar province on Wednesday, killing eight militants and wounding seven others, Interior Ministry said in a statement.
NATO commanders and leaders have repeatedly requested more trainers for the fledgling Afghan National Army and police, which are at the center of their counterinsurgency strategy. The deployed French unit will train and support Afghan army infantry battalions, the alliance said.
Troops that conduct training of the Afghan forces form the core of an alliance strategy that envisages embedding small teams of foreign soldiers with Afghan troops.
Southern Afghanistan remains the centre of the Taliban-led insurgency, and alliance commanders have complained over the years that not all NATO nations are ready to join the fight against the resurgent Taliban.
The number of insurgent attacks in Afghanistan has gone up by more than 50 per cent in the first half of this year, compared to the same period last year.
There are some 53,000 NATO-led troops from 27 countries serving in Afghanistan, including about 2,500 Canadian troops.
There is a shortfall of about 2,300 foreign troops to meet the training needs, said Lt. Col. Christian Kubik, a spokesman for the U.S. troops who train Afghan police and soldiers.
"If we increase the pace of training we are going to need more," Kubik said.
The Afghan National Army is scheduled to reach a strength of 70,000 soldiers by the end of this year, with an ultimate goal of 80,000 soldiers. Those numbers will likely go up to 120,000 by 2011, according to Afghan and U.S. officials.
Development of the Afghan police is taking longer and has been hindered by corruption, an insufficient number of U.S. military trainers and advisers, and a lack of unity of effort within the international community, a Pentagon report noted in June.
