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Afghans cynical about U.S. troop surge

KABUL, Afghanistan, Dec. 3 (UPI) -- Afghans expressed doubts about whether the impending surge in U.S. troops would make much of a difference in the war-torn country.

"It is just a political decision taken by the Americans; it has nothing to do with us," a diner in a Kabul restaurant said after watching on TV as President Barack Obama announced plans to deploy 30,000 additional U.S. troops to Afghanistan, the British newspaper The Guardian reported.

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Other customers remained unconvinced the bigger troop presence would help bring peace.

"NATO already has thousands of troops, far more than the Taliban, but they have been unable to stop districts coming under (Taliban) control," Mohamad Ashraf, an economics graduate, told the newspaper.

In Helmand, the southern province, much of which is under Taliban influence, an importer of clothes claimed the U.S. troop surge would make no difference in the south.

"Even if it is 90,000 (troops), they won't be able to do anything," he said, adding the Taliban "power is too much."

But few disagreed with the coalition view that Afghanistan should become strong enough to take care of its own security needs.

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"They (NATO forces) cannot leave until Afghanistan is strong enough to look after itself," a police officer said. "Otherwise, we will return to the factional fighting of the 1990s."

Haji Agha Lalai, a former head of a peace committee in Kandahar, criticized Obama's plan to have troops begin leaving Afghanistan in July 2011.

"Trying to do anything in 18 months certainly won't work," Lalai said.

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