The post-Taliban Afghanistan has been trying to reach an
agreement on having long-term strategic partnership with the North
Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO),the country's Defense Minister
Abdul Rahim Wardak disclosed Sunday.
"To have long-term strategic partnership with NATO, I have
discussed the issue with NATO's Secretary General Jaap de Hoop
Scheffer some five months ago and hope to finalize it soon," Wardak
told newsmen after return from Brussels.
Wardak, who attended the meeting of NATO-members states defense
ministers in Brussels last week, noted that having partnership with
NATO would help boost and equip Afghan security apparatus.
However, he declined to say if the post-Taliban nation were
eager to join the western military pact either now or in
future.
He made this comment while Taliban-linked insurgency is on rise
in the southern region amid NATO's expansion in the rugged terrain
where hundreds of the remnants of the former fundamentalist regime
are said to have hidden.
Taliban-linked insurgency has claimed the lives of more than 700
people including militants, Afghan and US-led foreign soldiers as
well as pro-government religious and social figures since beginning
2006.
To root out militants and ensure security, NATO has decided to
increase its strength from some 10,000-strong force to 18,000 in
the coming months.
NATO forces would remain in Afghanistan at least for five years
and their extension, according to the Afghan minister, depends on
security situation.
"We want NATO to strengthen its relations and further support
us," Wardak said.
(Xinhua News Agency June 12, 2006)
