Self-reliant Afghan air force in 2016: ISAF

KABUL would have a self-sufficient air force over the next three years.

ISAF spokesman Brig. Gen. Gunter Katz told a weekly press conference in Kabul that Afghan security forces had been fighting bravely against armed insurgents in the areas that had transitioned to their control.

Three rounds of the security switch to Afghan forces from their foreign counterparts had been completed successfully and the fourth phase, expected in the next three months, would bring under Afghan control 90 percent of the country’s population, Katz said.

He continued the capability of Afghan forces had considerably improved. “Our evaluation shows they are good soldiers and their progress has really been surprising,” the ISAF spokesman said, acknowledging the Afghan air force needed equipment and professional training.

He said the air force, which took start from scratch, and that its establishment was not harder than the creation of an army. Efforts to train and equip air force staff would continue until 2016, when the force would be self-sufficient and independent, he concluded.

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