Afghanistan on Sunday welcomed a US pledge to send up to 30,000 extra troops by mid-2009, but the Taliban warned Washington its forces would be "cruelly defeated" as the Soviets were in the 1980s.
The statements came one day after the top US military officer said that tens of thousands of new troops could be sent to Afghanistan by next summer to help Kabul combat a Taliban-led insurgency that has gained pace in recent years.
Admiral Mike Mullen, the Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, put the total deployment at between 20,000 and 30,000 troops. If the Pentagon opts for the high end of the range, the number of US troops here would nearly double.
Afghan foreign ministry spokesman Sultan Ahmad Baheen said Kabul hoped the additional US forces would be sent to the volatile south and areas along the eastern border with Pakistan, where Taliban fighters are the most active.
"We welcome the increase in US troops in Afghanistan. We have, however, two main demands," Baheen told AFP. "The first is that these forces should be deployed in places where they are needed - particularly in (southern) Helmand (province) and along our eastern borders, from where terrorists infiltrate into our country," he said.
"Secondly, this increase should help intensify the training and equipping of Afghan national security forces so they are able to better contribute to the fight against terror and defend the country."
Remnants of the Taliban, who were ousted from government in a US-led invasion in late 2001, have stepped up attacks in recent years, with 2008 the bloodiest year yet of the seven-year-long insurgency.
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