- KABUL: The Taleban is stronger than NATO expected but the international coalition in Afghanistan will make progress both militarily and politically this year, NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said on Monday.
"I think we have to be honest and say they seem to be stronger now than we had expected when the international operation started back in 2001," Rasmussen told the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. in a phone interview.
"But we will continue our military operation and we will ... see momentum in 2010, first of all because we have increased the number of international troops significantly and secondly, because the political process will move in the right direction," he said.
Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai has called a traditional gathering of elders to discuss the prospects of making peace overtures to some Taleban elements. It starts this Wednesday. NATO could back this process by providing enough security, said Rasmussen.