Top US envoy, military chief arrive in Afghanistan

Apr 5, 2009, 8:28 GMT

   Kabul - The top US envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan arrived in Kabul to hold talks with Afghan and NATO military officials, a US embassy spokesperson said Sunday.

   Ambassador Richard Holbrooke was accompanied by the US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen. Both officials were vital in drafting a strategy for Afghanistan and Pakistan that US President Barack Obama announced late last month.

   The new strategy is aimed at disrupting and defeating Taliban and al-Qaeda militants, who are suspected of having command bases inside Pakistani tribal areas.

   The visit came one day after President Obama said in Strasbourg, France that NATO allies had pledged 3,000 non-combat soldiers to protect the Afghan presidential elections slated for August 20.

   Obama said NATO also pledged to deploy 300 new police trainers, 70 embedded training teams for the Afghan army and provide 600 million dollars for the army and for civilian reconstruction.

   Taliban militants, who were initially believed to have been defeated following the ouster of their ultra-Islamic regime in late 2001, have steadily gained strength in the past three years.

   The insurgents extended their writ to larger swathes of the country and stepped up their attacks on the allied forces that resulted in deaths of nearly 300 international troops and about 1,500 Afghan security forces in 2008 alone.

   To contain the insurgency, the US government plans to send 17,000 additional combat soldiers and 4,000 military trainers this year. The total number of international troops deployed from 42 nations to the country is expected to reach 90,000, mostly from the US.

   Holbrooke and Mullen were expected to brief the Afghan and US military leaders on details of the new strategy.