U.S. military commander urges for more Afghan forces, civilian experts

WASHINGTON, July 8 (Xinhua) -- A U.S. military commander on Wednesday urged for more Afghan security forces and civilian experts to fight against Taliban militants.

"The fact of the matter is we don't have enough Afghan forces, and I'd like more," said Brigadier General Larry Nicholson, the commander of U.S. Marine in southern Afghanistan through a teleconference at Pentagon.

Nicholson said that currently, only about 650 Afghan security forces were accompanying the 4,000 Marine troops in the Helmand province, where an operation was launched against Taliban.

He said that he hopes there could be an Afghan battalion for every U.S. battalion, since the Afghan troops can "see things we'll never see."

"They understand politically what's going on in an area that we'll just never get, no matter how much cultural training our guys get," he said.

The Afghan security forces can also make the U.S. troops more effective by winning the trust and cooperation of the local population, he added.

Nicholson also noted the need to deploy more U.S. civilian experts in the south to boost the local economic development.

The Defense Department has ordered earlier this year 21,000 additional U.S. troops to Afghanistan -- including 4,000 training forces -- by the end of September.