KABUL, Apr 12 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Defence Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak on Thursday said the country would have 200 aircrafts in the coming three years.

The minister was briefing journalist here on the last day of the accountability week announced by the government.

He said the fleet of aircrafts would have fighter jets, transportation as well as surveillance planes. However, he did not mention who would provide the aircrafts to the ministry.

At the moment, the Defence Ministry has more than 40 different aircrafts.

About the training and recruitment of the Afghan National Army (ANA), Wardak said they were concentrating on the quality as well as quantity. He said the strength of ANA would be increased to 70,000 by the end of this year.

Under the Bonn Agreement, Afghanistan will have 70,000 military personnel. At present, the number of ANA is 46,000.

The minister said recruitment centres had been established in all the 34 provinces to speed up the formation of the Afghan military.

He said ANA conducted 10,224 operations in the country over the previous two years. The minister said 2,822 miscreants were killed and another 1,324 were arrested during those operations.

He said 331 ANA soldiers killed and 861 wounded during the operations and violence. He described 2006 as the bloodiest year which registered increasing number of attacks from the Taliban.

He said the 'enemies' were now involved in face to face fighting signifying their level of preparations. By increasing attacks, they (the opponents) wanted to force the foreign troops to leave the country, he said.  

Najib Khelwatgar

mam/dk