Kabul: Afghanistan Thursday called on the international community to help it strengthen it security forces to take over the country's security.

"We are asking the international community and everybody to accelerate the growth of Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) both in quality and quantity," Defence Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak told reporters at a videoconference arranged by Brussels ahead of NATO summit.

"We believe the only way to secure Afghanistan is to enable the Afghans themselves," Wardak emphasized. He said the Afghan forces still don't have the necessary equipment to lead the military operations against militants in the country.

"We still need to rely on NATO and the coalition forces for air support, fire support and logistic support," the minister noted. He made these remarks one week ahead of NATO summit in Bucharest where Afghanistan issue would be discussed and the alliance would issue a statement in support of the military pact in Afghanistan. Replying a question on the present strength of the country national army, the defence minister said they have some 80,000 troops, which is too low. "We want to have more troops," he added.

Source : IANS