Optimism from ISAF commander

Perhaps a bit too much, but one can but hope:

International soldiers will be needed in Afghanistan until at least 2012, but troop levels could start dropping by then, the commander of coalition forces said yesterday.

Gen. Dan McNeill offered that timeline in an interview with the Citizen, as he expressed optimism that as more Afghan soldiers and police officers are competently trained, it would be fair to begin debating the merits of reducing the number of international troops here.

"I would say, at the rate the Afghan National Army is going, if the police can catch up with that rate, maybe it wouldn't take five years," he said. "But again, all I do is make my best military recommendations and leave it to the policymakers."..

Gen. McNeill pointed to the fact that Afghan Defence Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak and his top soldier, Gen. Bishmullah Khan, have urged the North Atlantic Council, NATO's governing body, as well as other alliance commanders to be patient with the training of Afghan security forces.

"In a couple of press interviews, both he (Mr. Wardak) and Gen. Bishmullah Khan thought that a fully capable Afghan National Army, probably you're looking at late 2012 before that came around.

"Here's what's really important," Gen. McNeill said: "As you see increasing Afghan national security force capacity, that not only includes the army, but the police as well, I think you can reasonably have debate and ask the question: 'do we need the same size of international force here?'

"I think the answer to that is obvious: As the Afghan capacity increases, there probably is good reason that you cease to increase the international capacity and, at some point, you would actually be better served by beginning to decrease that."

The training of an 80,000-strong national army and a competent national police force of 82,000 is the key exit strategy for Canada and its allies.

The Canadian Forces -- there are about 2,500 stationed in the volatile south -- have made great gains in making the Kandahar region more secure over the last year, Gen. McNeill said, adding: "We should point out that they have a lot of help."

Polish special forces and American troops outside of NATO command [i.e. under OEF] have also played a role, he added [emphasis added]...

More on the Polish special forces, from an earlier post:

Gen. Ramms has also disclosed a part of secrecy regarding the Polish special unit GROM, which is being stationed near Kandahar. "GROM conducts regular battles with Taliban" - says general. "These soldiers search, track down and destroy the enemy. We are very pleased with them."

Plus optimism from the Afghan defence ministry:

Officials in Kabul say the Afghan National Army soon will number 70,000 combat-ready soldiers -- the strongest the force has been since the fall of the Taliban regime in late 2001.