NATO welcomes British troop pledge for Afghanistan
Thu Oct 15 02:35:52 EST 2009
Wed Oct 14 15:35:52 UTC 2009
BRUSSELS, Oct 14 AFP - NATO welcomed Britain's offer to send more troops to Afghanistan, and echoed Prime Minister Gordon Brown's call for other allies to send extra forces.
"We can see elements that resonate very strongly at NATO headquarters," spokesman James Appathurai said on Wednesday, notably Britain's insistence that efforts focus on training the Afghan army and police.
In pledging an extra 500 troops, Brown said other allies had to do more.
"Everyone must accept that if they are part of the coalition, they have to share the burden," he said.
The announcement, which takes Britain's force level in Afghanistan to 9,500, came as US President Barack Obama mulls a request for up to 60,000 more troops from General Stanley McChrystal, the top NATO and US commander in Afghanistan.
"All the NATO allies are going to have to look more to what they can contribute," Appathurai told reporters in Brussels.
"That will have to come not just from one country or two countries," he said, adding that it was important "to look at what more they can do now, so that it is possible to envision doing less later."
Six years after taking command of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan, NATO and partner nations are struggling to contain insurgents, including the Taliban militia, al-Qaeda and criminal gangs.
As civilian and military casualties mount, public opinion is turning against the operation, NATO's biggest and most ambitious undertaking.
McChrystal, the ISAF commander, has recommended a new strategy to beat the insurgency, with protecting the Afghan people as its central pillar, and has called for more resources to carry out that mission.
The strategy, which has the backing of NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen, will be the focus of talks between NATO defence ministers in Slovakia on October 22-23.
