Afghan President may introduce conscription
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.The Afghan President, Hamid Karzai, is looking at introducing conscription to build an army big enough to provide internal security without international help.
Mr Karzai told a conference of the world's top defence officials in Munich yesterday that he wants to build an army and police force of 300,000 by 2012 to provide security for Afghanistan by 2015 without international help.
Within five years, "Afghanistan should be able to provide security for its people so we are no longer a burden on the shoulders of the international community", he said, although he conceded international troops may still be needed for the "war on terrorism".
His comments are in stark contrast to those made last week by Afghanistan's Defence Minister, General Abdul Rahim Wardak, who said the army had no shortage of recruits and that there was no need to force people to serve. The Afghan National Army has 97,000 troops and the Afghan National Police has 94,000 officers.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments