On the military side, the Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Democrat Carl Levin, says the plan calls for an extra 4,000 US trainers to work with the Afghan armed forces.

VOA: standard.2009.03.26

Still,Secretary Gates says he went to Japan with a "menu" of options for how the country can be helpful by, among other things, providing trainers for the Afghan security forces and donating money for development projects.

VOA: standard.2009.10.20

In SERE training military personnel are subjected to many of the same techniques to toughen them up for possible capture by an enemy - and Ritz says SERE trainers were imported to the Guantanamo Bay detention facility.

VOA: standard.2009.04.17