WASHINGTON – The US military officials are saying that around $5.2 billionhave been requested for the Afghan national defense and security forces inthe defense budget for the US army for the fiscal year 2019.

Director, Army Budget, Major General Paul A. Chamberlain, said the requestincludes approximately $5.2 billion for the Afghan Security Forces fund and$1.4 billion for the counter-ISIS train and equip requirement.

Gen. Chamberlain told reporters that “The $3.2 billion of MILPERS portionof this OCO request primarily supports mobilized reserve component soldiersand maintains the current end strength levels in Afghanistan and Iraq.”

This comes as efforts are underway by the Afghan government and itsinternational allies to boost the capabilities of the Afghan nationaldefense and security forces.

During a visit to a military base of the Afghan armed forces in Kabul latein January, the Afghan President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani said the governmentis working to further boost the fighting the capabilities of the AfghanSpecial Operations forces.

According to President Ghani, the government is also considering specialarrangements to boost the capabilities of the Afghan Air Force and furthersteps will be taken in this regard in the near future.

In the meantime, the U.S. Air Force Brigadier General Lance Bunch, thedirector of the future operations, had earlier said the Afghan Air Force isone of the more lethal organizations of the Afghan National Defense andSecurity Forces and that efforts are underway to triple the size of theAfghan Air Force by 2023.

According to Gen. Bunch, the first four UH-60 Black Hawks were delivered tothe Afghan Air Force, and the first six pilots have already graduated fromtraining.

“We expect to have eight full crews at the beginning of the fighting seasonin 2018. And those Black Hawk helicopters are just the first of up to 159that we’re going to provide them,” he said.