we now look forward to the testimony of stephen townsend. >> chairman women, congressman andrews, they give you the opportunity to appear today and discuss how the afghan national security forces are doing. our bottom line up front is that we are on track to achieve our strategic objectives of afghanistan. a sustainable and sufficient transport is part of our mission. the ansf continues to grow and maintain on track by the end of 2014. 350,000, that come about as a mechanism for defeating the insurgency. the ansf continues to meet or exceed the recruiting objectives this year with army and the air force expected to meet the combined goals of 195,000 by the end of the summer. the police reaching their goal of 157,000 by october. the ansf also faces some shortages. we have provided literacy programs to approximately 90,000 ansf at each day. this is going to make the ansf one of the most literate of the afghan society. attrition continues to be an issue as well. although attrition will not keep the nsf for meaning there goals, continues to hamper the long-term development of the ansf. we

major general stephen thousand says -- stephen townsend says they are working on training for officers. comments during these armed services hearings. this is one hour and 15 minutes. [inaudible] >> biya receive testimony about resources and strategies -- we will receive testimony about resources and strategist from u.s. and nato forces. the department of defense is represented by david sedney, debra -- deputy secretary of defense for central asia pakistan, and afghanistan. thank you for your presentation and your service to our country. we look forward to your testimony on plans for training and equipping the afghan national security force, and details about the projected size -- projected size of the force in the near and long term for . many of us just returned from a congressional trip to afghanistan. we traveled to several provinces and met with local leaders, including chiefs of police and a number of provinces. we also had the opportunity to talk to military commanders on the ground, who provided their impression of the level of support that would be needed to create a self-sust