Afghan army recruitment has met a target of 134,000 troops two months ahead of schedule, officials said Wednesday, despite a worsening Taliban-led insurgency around the country.

The army, backed by billions of dollars from the United States, is aiming to number 171,000 troops by late next year, but an October deadline for 134,000 has already been met, said defence ministry spokesman Mohammad Zahir Azimi.

"We are two months ahead of schedule," Azimi told AFP.

Afghanistan, with the help of its Western backers, is trying to rebuild its army and police in a bid to take responsibility for security from US-led NATO forces by 2014.

The Taliban, toppled in a 2001 US-led invasion, still control large swathes of the south and have put up stiff resistance to a surge deploying 150,000 foreign troops as part of a counter-insurgency strategy.

The national police currently numbers 100,000 with an eventual aim of 134,000 personnel.

The commander of the US-led NATO forces in Afghanistan hailed the army's growth, saying that the rebuilding of Afghan security forces was the "central element" in the coalition's efforts to stabilise the country.

"It is truly remarkable that we are able to congratulate the defence ministry today for achieving their strength goal for October two months ahead of schedule," US General David Petraeus said in a statement.

On Tuesday, President Hamid Karzai's spokesman said all international and domestic private security firms would be dissolved, partly in a bid to transfer their capacity to the Afghan police and army.

earlier related report
Germany lists Afghan troop improvements
Berlin (UPI) Aug 11, 2010 - The Bundeswehr is eager to convince critics that it's doing everything to boost armament of its troops in Afghanistan.

The Stuttgarter Zeitung newspaper quotes from a letter by Defense State Secretary Walther Otremba to the parliamentary budget and defense committees that details several military equipment purchases.

The letter lists several completed and planned purchases to boost the firepower of the more than 4,500 German troops stationed in northern Afghanistan. The shopping list includes heavy artillery as well as equipment to beef up already deployed armored vehicles.

The revelations come after severe criticism of what some say is a lack of firepower of German troops stationed in and around Kunduz. The once stable region is seeing an increasing number of battles between allied forces and Taliban insurgents.

The parliamentary commissioner of armed forces, Hellmut Koenigshaus of the government Free Democrats, has criticized the lack of protected vehicles and munition for Germany's Afghan troops and has even called for the Leopard 2 tank, produced by Krauss-Maffei Wegmann, to be deployed to Afghanistan. German Defense Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg has refuted Koenigshaus' allegations but the row over adequate equipment hasn't subsided.

While most experts say the Leopard 2 won't help much in northern Afghanistan's difficult terrain, the German Defense Ministry will retrofit for mobile use six Panzerhaubitze 2000, the letter reveals. The Germans have three of these self-propelled artillery weapons in Afghanistan, but they are stationary.

The ministry will upgrade several Fuchs armored personnel carriers and Marder mechanized infantry combat vehicles with mine protection and improvised-explosive-device jamming systems. Troops will also receive 40 "Soldier of the Future" packages, each containing enough weapons, electronics and night-vision gear to outfit 10 soldiers.

The move to more firepower in Afghanistan comes as the Defense Ministry is under pressure to cut its overall budget -- $38.5 billion for 2010 -- by around $1.3 billion per year. (The U.S. defense budget for 2010, including overseas operations, stands at $663.8 billion.)

The cuts are likely to affect personnel as well as large procurement programs, which would affect the many German defense companies.

Germany is one of the world's major arms exporters. The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute estimates the country is No. 3 in the global market, trumped only by Russia and the United States.

Companies including ThyssenKrupp, Rheinmetall and Krauss-Maffei Wegmann develop high-quality submarines, ships, armored vehicles and tanks. And European Aeronautic Defense and Space Co., a multinational giant producing all kinds of airplanes and helicopters, has a strong German profile.