KABUL (PAN): The Ministry of Defence (MoD) on Thursday rejected a report published in an influential US newspaper that said President Karzai has agreed to send a group of military officers to Pakistan for training.
"There has been no agreement with Pakistan to train Afghan officers," a statement issued form the MoD quoted General Zahir Azimi, the ministry spokesman, as saying.
The Washington Post in its report said the move was a victory for Pakistan, which seeks a major role in Afghanistan as officials in both countries become increasingly convinced that the US war effort there is faltering.
Quoting unnamed Afghan officials, the paper said that Karzai has begun to see Pakistan as a necessary ally in ending the war through negotiation with the Taliban or on the battlefield.
The previously unpublicised training would involve only a small group of officers, variously described as between a handful and a few dozen, but it has enormous symbolic importance as the first tangible outcome of talks between Karzai and Pakistan's military and intelligence chiefs that began in May, it reported.
However, the Afghan defence ministry said no Afghan soldiers or officers had so for been sent to Pakistan over the last few years for training.
At a news conference on Wednesday, Azimi said the numbers of Afghan National Army soldiers have reached 134,000 and it is expected the numbers would be increased to 240,000 next year.
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