Afghanistan defence minister has said that thousands of foreign fighters have entered the country to support the Taliban insurgency, seeking more international troops.<br/><br/>General Abdul Rahim Wardak told country’s lawmakers in a speech yesterday that about 4,000 fighters, mostly from Pakistan, Chechnya and North Africa have joined the fighting in Afghanistan. General Wardak said Afghan intelligence services have asked for more international forces to cope with the foreign threat.<br/><br/>Afghanistan's interior minister, who also spoke to parliament, endorsed a strategy promoted by the top U.S. commander Gen. Stanley McChrystal to focus on protecting civilians rather than simply killing insurgents. Mr. Hanif Atmar said that if the target of this fight is only killing the Taliban, they will not win this war but if it is saving the Afghan people, they have a possibility.<br/><br/>The comments came as a U.S. intelligence assessment revealed that the number of fighters has reached an estimated 25,000 from 7,000 in 2006.US administration is holding wide range discussions on the next step in Afghanistan and to decide how much troops are resources to commit in the war-affected country.