|
WASHINGTON, April 9, 2006 – U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Benjamin C. Freakley and Afghan Gen. Bismullah Khan met today and agreed that continued close cooperation between Afghan, coalition, NATO and Pakistani forces is essential to stabilizing Afghanistan and freeing the country of the Taliban and other terrorists.
Freakley, commanding general of Combined Joint Task Force-76, and Bismullah , who serves in the Afghan National Army, met in Khan's office at the Afghan Ministry of Defense. Their Afghan National Army arranged the meeting.
The Afghan National Army and Afghan National Police have worked cooperatively with each other and with coalition and NATO forces. "In the past four years, we have had many successes, and much progress has been made, but more work remains," Khan said.
The Taliban and other terrorists in Afghanistan are a threat, not just to Afghanistan, but to coalition forces, Pakistan, and the entire world, the generals agreed. Defeating these terrorirsts, they said, will require continued international cooperation. "The way we are going to solve this problem is if practical military men from Afghanistan, Pakistan and the coalition work together to defeat this common enemy," Freakley said.
Afghan national security forces have grown increasingly skilled and capable, he said. Coordination and cooperation with coalition forces is especially strong at the company level, in Regional Command East.
Khan said he would like to visit Freakley at the Combined Joint Task Force-76 headquarters at Bagram Airfield and thanked him for the coalition's contributions in Afghanistan. "The people of Afghanistan will never forget your help," he said.
(Compiled from various news releases.)
|
