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.

Afghan officials say the fighters have set up safe havens in Pakistan's lawless tribal belt on the border, and accuse Islamabad of not doing enough to put a stop to cross-border operations against Afghan and foreign forces here.

A spokesman for the Taliban dismissed the US troop pledge, saying it would be as useless as a similar "surge" by the Soviets in the 1980s, and would only provide the insurgents with more targets.

"They now want to send more troops to Afghanistan.... The Russians also sent that many troops but were badly defeated," said the spokesman, Yousuf Ahmadi, referring to Moscow's doomed decade-long occupation of Afghanistan.

"When the US increases its troop levels to that of the Russians, they will also be cruelly defeated," warned Ahmadi, who claims to speak on behalf of fugitive Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar.

"More troops -- that means there will be more targets for the Taliban," he said by telephone from an unknown location.

US president-elect Barack Obama has pledged to withdraw forces from Iraq and redeploy them to Afghanistan as part of his plan to tackle militancy and instability in south and central Asia.

General David McKiernan, the US commander in Afghanistan, had asked for more than 20,000 extra US soldiers to counter the rise in insurgent violence, seven years after US forces invaded the country to force the Taliban from power.

In 2008, almost 290 international soldiers and 1,000 Afghan security forces have been killed in insurgent violence.

Eleven foreign troops have been killed in Afghanistan in the past 10 days -- four British marines, three Canadians, three Danes and one Dutch national.

Gates orders new aviation brigade to Afghanistan
US Defense Secretary Robert Gates has ordered the deployment of a combat aviation brigade with some 2,800 troops to Afghanistan next year, a US military official said Friday.

Gates signed the order on Thursday in response to a request for more forces by General David McKiernan, the US commander in Afghanistan, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

"This is the beginning of the sourcing of the increased requirement that he (McKiernan) has asked for," the official said.

The aviation brigade, which is composed of a mix of attack and transport helicopters, numbers around 2,800 troops, he said.

It will deploy to Afghanistan after January from the United States, he said.

McKiernan has asked for more than 20,000 additional US troops to counter a rise in insurgent violence, including four combat brigades, the aviation brigade and other support forces.

Gates had previously redirected a combat brigade from Iraq to Afghanistan, which is supposed to arrive in January, and promised to deliver at least two more combat brigades after that.

The buildup would nearly double the US military presence in Afghanistan, raising it from 31,000 troops to over 50,000.

But in an interview aired Wednesday on PBS television, Gates indicated that there will be limits to the US military buildup because of fears that the larger the presence the greater the risk Afghans will turn against it as an occupation force.

"I think that we can meet the requirements of the commander in Afghanistan, our commander, General McKiernan, for the additional four brigade combat teams and a combat aviation team, without tipping the balance," he said.

"But ... after those forces are provided, I think we should think long and hard before we make any further significant troop contributions in Afghanistan," he said.

Meanwhile, US commanders in Iraq have warned that security gains there are reversible and that a large force is needed to ensure stability during a year in which three elections will take place.

General Raymond Odierno, the US commander in Iraq, is reported to have proposed withdrawing only two US combat brigades from Iraq in the first half of 2009.

There are currently 143,000 troops in Iraq, which has placed restraints on the availability for troops for Afghanistan.

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