The United States is asking its allies helping with security in Afghanistan to maintain funding for Afghan forces at a cost of nearly $5 billion a year until at least 2020, a top U.S. military commander said on Monday.
The plan extends the international financial commitment for the foreseeable future at a time when Western leaders have been hoping to reduce Afghanistan’s reliance on foreign military aid.
Military commanders are making the pitch for continued funding ahead of a NATO summit in Warsaw in early July, where the alliance’s leaders will discuss support for the Afghan government, which is struggling to contain a resurgent Taliban insurgency.
“There is strong agreement, certainly from the chiefs of defense, that the support for Afghanistan … needs to continue,” Major General Skip Davis told reporters in Kabul.
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