Troops need special preparation for their mission in Afghanistan

Afghan president Hamid Karzai has warned that his country will need international assistance for at least fifteen years, and that any official announcement of a withdrawal date would be met by a full-scale Taliban offensive. Many areas considered relatively calm until recently have been coming under more frequent attack: including the province of Kunduz, as we saw in the last report. That means international troops being sent there have to prepare for a different, more hostile environment than on previous tours of duty.