Afghan surge bid

The US and Europe need to send 5,000 more troops to Afghanistan to break a stalemate between Afghan forces and Islamic terrorists, the top US general in Kabul says.

“We cannot afford to walk away from Afghanistan,” Gen. John Nicholson told The Sunday Times of London. “This is where the war against terrorism started on 9/11. Failure here would embolden terrorists globally.”

Nicholson will ask for additional forces at a NATO meeting in May with the backing of US Defense Secretary James Mattis and National Security Adviser H. R. McMaster, the report said.

Nicholson’s request would run counter to Trump administration wishes to end nation-building in the Middle East.

Right now, 8,400 US troops and 5,000 troops from other NATO countries are deployed to Afghanistan.

Nicholson said the Afghan government controlled only “about 62 percent of the population and about 57 percent of the territory.”