NATO is set to agree on Thursday to increase its Afghanistan training mission by some 3,000 troops, alliance officials said, after the United States switched tack in long-running efforts to defeat Taliban militants and end the conflict, cbc news reports.
Fresh NATO personnel will not have a combat role but the alliance hopes more soldiers can train the Afghan army and air force to complement U.S. President Donald Trump's strategy to send more American counterterrorism troops to the country.
"We have decided to increase the number of troops ... to help the Afghans break the stalemate, to send a message to the Taliban, to the insurgents that they will not win on the battleground," NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told a news conference on Tuesday.
NATO defence ministers are expected to approve the deployment in the latter part of a two-day meeting that starts on Wednesday. The troops would be deployed from the start of 2018, a NATO official said.
The NATO contribution would boost the training mission, called Resolute Support, to around 16,000 troops, Stoltenberg said.
About half the additional troops would come from the United States and the rest from NATO allies and partner countries.