Karzai says western troops could stay in Afghanistan 10 years - AP

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

Piss meet wind.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100128/ap_on_re_eu/eu_britain_afghanistan

Afghan President Hamid Karzai told a global meeting Thursday that he will soon convene a peace conference in his country to lure Taliban fighters to renounce violence, but he still expects foreign troops to stay for up to a decade.

Clinton said the "U.S. military has been authorized to use substantial funds to support the effort," but did not say how much the U.S. would give to the money pool — officially known as the trust fund, and dubbed the "Taliban Trust Fund" by some.

Taliban fighters have been taking over wider swathes of the country and successfully attacked the center of Kabul, power base of the feeble central government led by Karzai. Al-Qaida leaders have regrouped near the Pakistan-Afghan border.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown opened the one-day talks at a grand Georgian town house in central London by saying they would endorse plans for Afghanistan to increase its military to 171,600 by Oct. 2011, and boost police numbers to 134,000 by the same date.

"By the middle of next year we have to turn the tide," Brown said.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

1. k

[slipslidingaway]

2. knr - thanks for posting n/t