Sept. 12 (Bloomberg) -- NATO needs at least another year to build up the Afghan army before local forces can start taking the lead in the fight against the Taliban, the alliance's top commander in Afghanistan said.

Afghanistan's army numbers around 35,000 to 40,000 and won't reach a goal of 70,000 until the end of 2008, said U.S. General Dan K. McNeill, commander of North Atlantic Treaty Organization forces in Afghanistan.

``We're well on track to complete that by the end of next year'' and it will take ``some time after that'' before the Afghan army becomes ``an independent force,'' McNeill told a Brussels press conference today.

NATO has 39,000 troops in Afghanistan battling the resurgent Taliban, the radical Islamic movement toppled from power by the U.S. in 2001. McNeill said the alliance needs to build up forces further before it can start debating drawing them down.

NATO's combat mission is growing increasingly controversial in Europe following a spate of civilian casualties and concern that runaway poppy production is setting back the development of a modern economy.

Only 31 percent of Europeans back the military campaign against the Taliban, with opposition highest in France, Germany, Italy and Spain, a German Marshall Fund survey found last week. American support stood at 68 percent.

German Troops

Germany's Parliament is weighing the future of the 3,000 German troops in Afghanistan, mostly in noncombat roles. Some Social Democratic lawmakers are calling for the pullout of 100 special forces serving with a U.S.-led counterinsurgency force that is separate from the NATO command.

NATO defense ministers vowed in June to send more trainers and equipment to strengthen the Afghan army, saying only local forces can defeat the insurgency against Afghanistan's elected government, led by Hamid Karzai.

The army has added recruits at the rate of 2,000 to 3,000 a month this year, up from 600 a month last year, McNeill said. NATO and Afghan forces have conducted several combined operations, with one now in progress with U.S. troops in the east, he said.

``They've upgunned their effort to produce an army,'' McNeill said.

`Checkered Results'

Afghanistan has made less progress in building up a police force to hold areas seized from the Taliban, and tribal frictions in some places create an opening for the insurgency, McNeill said.

He pointed to ``some checkered results'' in ``one of the more troubled districts'' in western Kandahar province. Still, the security situation ``looks fairly good relative to what it was this time last year,'' he said.

``We've not a big enough force to clear all the areas out and hold them all,'' McNeill said. ``The Afghans are going to have to come in behind us and be a hold. There've been a couple of times this fighting season that I wish they would have done better as a hold force.''

To contact the reporter on this story: James G. Neuger in Brussels at jneuger@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: September 12, 2007 12:12 EDT