South Asia News
NATO has "regained initiative" in Afghanistan, Gates says (Extra)
Jun 11, 2010, 12:38 GMT
Brussels - NATO has regained the initiative from the Taliban in the fight for Afghanistan after years of neglect, US Defence Secretary Robert Gates said Friday after talks with NATO colleagues.
NATO is currently boosting its troop numbers in the war-torn country ahead of a major military push this summer, and is keen to reinforce Afghanistan's own forces so that the alliance can start to pull back from the front line.
'We have regained the initiative. Progress is being made slowly but steadily,' Gates told journalists at NATO's Brussels headquarters.
US-led forces drove the Taliban out of Afghanistan in 2002, but the insurgents regrouped in Pakistan and have been exerting heavy pressure on international forces in their former homeland. Last year NATO launched a new strategy to try and turn the tide.
'Nobody would deny the signs of progress are tentative, almost anecdotal, but if you talk to people who have been there for a while, their view is the situation is slowly beginning to improve and we are slowly recapturing the initiative,' Gates said.
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