The North Atlantic Treaty Organization announced on Thursday that it will be sending several thousand more troops to Afghanistan, saying they did not see an end to the operations “in the near future.”
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told press that the 13,000 troop force currently occupying Afghanistan was “too low,” and that several thousand more troops will be added to operation “Resolute Support” through 2017 “and beyond.”
“Our military authorities have requested a few thousand more troops for the mission in Afghanistan and today I can confirm that we will increase our presence in Afghanstan,” the Secretary General said Thursday.
“We do not believe that this operation in Afghanistan will be simple and we do not think it will be peaceful this year or next or in the near future,” he continued.
Stoltenberg said that 15 out of 29 NATO member nations have pledged to support the troop presence increase, and that he is expecting more to join.
While he emphasized several times that the NATO troops were not there for combat, but rather “training, assisting, and advising,” of Afghani troops, he also said that the move was intended to break what he called a battlefield “stalemate.”
Earlier this month U.S. Defense Secretary Mattis indicated that the United States was “not winning” its two-decade war, and requested troop levels to be adjusted. Currently, United States forces account for over half of the total NATO allied troops in the country.