NATO chief predicts another tough year ahead for Afghanistan

The head of NATO today predicted a difficult fight ahead for Afghanistan as the government continues battling the Taliban and other militant factions trying to assert their presence in the war-ravaged country.
Jens Stoltenberg, NATO's secretary general, said insurgents will press their fight against Kabul in what is likely to be another tough year for the Afghan government. He spoke to The Associated Press during a two-day visit to Kabul, his second since taking the top NATO role in late 2014.
The Taliban, al-Qaida and the Islamic State group will keep up their attacks across Afghanistan throughout 2016, he said. "We have seen different terrorist organizations trying to establish themselves in Afghanistan. We have seen the presence of al-Qaida, IS, the Taliban and all the groups, and they are still in Afghanistan."

"There is going to be continued fighting and we have to expect that there are going to be new attacks on the government forces," he added.
NATO has around 3,000 troops in Afghanistan, in the so-called Resolute Support non-combat mission along with about 9,800 US soldiers. The mission was pared down in 2014, with the departure of most international combat troops, leaving Afghan forces to take on the insurgency largely alone.
For now, the United States will halve troop numbers at the end of this year. Stoltenberg said NATO's numbers for 2017 are not yet clear. The use of US airstrikes to back Afghan forces has been critical in helping them hold ground and can push Taliban and other insurgent groups out of contested areas.

The Taliban were well-prepared for the end of the US-NATO combat mission and swiftly intensified their insurgency, now in its 15th year. Officials have said that Afghan forces suffered almost 30 percent more deaths and casualties in 2015 than the estimated 5,000 of the year before.
There have been no official figures released on those casualties.