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Defense Ministry: US supplies 95 per cent of Afghan National Army’s equipment

Politics Materials 14 December 2011 13:56 (UTC +04:00)
The Afghanistan National Army which has about 176, 000 personnel is armed by U.S. military equipment
Defense Ministry: US supplies 95 per cent of Afghan National Army’s equipment

Azerbaijan, Baku, Dec 14 / Trend D.Khatinoglu/

The Afghanistan National Army which has about 176, 000 personnel is armed by U.S. military equipment, Afghanistan Defence Ministry spokesman Gen. Zahir Azimi told Trend.

The U.S. Defence Department announced on Dec.13 that Defence Secretary Leon E. Panetta visited Kabul to thank U.S. service members for their role in reversing the momentum against the Taliban and to assure Afghan leaders of the United States continuing commitment as transition moves forward.

"Mr Panetta reaffirmed today during his meeting with his Afghan counterpart Abdul Rahim Wardak the U.S. commitment toward supporting the security of Afghanistan after withdrawal of NATO troops from the country," General Azimi said via telephone from Kabul.

The United States has about 94,000 service members in Afghanistan and is on track to complete a drawdown of 10,000 troops by the year's end.

President Barack Obama announced last summer that the first 10,000 of the 33,000 surge troops deployed to Afghanistan last year would return home this year. The rest of the surge forces are marked to redeploy next year.

The general quoted Mr Panetta as saying "the U.S will never leave Afghanistan on its own."

The Afghan National Army is receiving army education satisfactorily and will be able to provide the country's security after 2014 by itself. NATO will leave Afghanistan after 2014 according to the agreement achieved at the Lisbon Summit in November 2010.

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