Gloomy assessment by Afghan Defense Minister

KABUL, Afghanistan, (AP) The Afghan Army cannot secure the country without at least 150,000 troops - five times what it has - the defense minister said last week.

The Minister, Abdul Rahim Wardak, said that a plan to increase the army to 70,000 troops from 27,000 was inadequate, and that the American-led coalition should divert funds from its own operations to strengthen Afghan forces.

Mr. Wardak said a 70,000-member army could not end a surge of Taliban-led violence like the one that flared recently, or protect the country from outside threats.

The minimum number, he said in an interview, was 150,000 to 200,000, "which should also be well-trained and equipped, with mobility and firepower and logistical and training institutions."

The comments by Mr. Wardak, an American-educated former rebel commander who fought Soviet forces during the 1979-89 occupation, came as a suicide attack and market bombing killed at least three Afghan civilians.

Besides its army, which is smaller than the New York Police Department, Afghanistan has 60,000 police officers. The forces complement more than 20,000 coalition troops and about 10,000 from NATO. The NATO force is expected to increase to 16,000 this month.

American officials were not immediately available for comment.

More than 20 coalition soldiers have died since mid-May in the bloodiest spate of violence since the invasion that toppled the Taliban government in late 2001. Eighteen American soldiers died in June, the second deadliest month for Americans here.

More than 700 people, mainly militants, have been killed during the past two months, according to an Associated Press tally of coalition and Afghan figures.

In a bid to curb the violence, more than 10,000 foreign and Afghan soldiers are taking part in an anti-Taliban sweep across southern Afghanistan. Mr. Wardak was optimistic about the operations, saying, "I think within two to three months there should be a considerable improvement in the region."

But violence continued Wednesday. A bomb hidden in a fruit cart exploded in a southern market near the Pakistani border, killing two men and wounding eight others.