KRAKOW, Poland, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Defense
Secretary Robert Gates on Thursday asked NATO's European allies to do more in
Afghanistan to balance new U.S. pledges to send in 17,000 additional troops.
Gates and his counterparts in NATO countries were
holding informal discussions on Afghanistan on Thursday.
"Secretary Gates made a point ... that this
(additional U.S. troops for Afghanistan) should not be seen as only a U.S. extra
effort, that this extra effort needs to be balanced by all the allies," NATO
spokesman James Appathurai told reporters.
All allies shared the view that everybody needs to do
more, said Appathurai, without pronouncing any specific pledges by other allies.
He said apart from military support, allies can also make civilian contributions
to NATO's operations in Afghanistan.
European allies are under pressure to send more
troops to Afghanistan after U.S. President Barack Obama announced on Tuesday
that Washington will send in 17,000 more troops in the coming months. But even
Gates admitted that the likelihood of European allies committing significant
numbers of additional troops is small. Obama is clearly shifting U.S. priority
from Iraq to Afghanistan. But European leaders are yet to convince their
citizens that they also have a stake in the war in Afghanistan. So far only
Italy has announced it will reinforce its contingent by 500 troops in
Afghanistan.
The allies agreed that support for the Aug. 20
presidential elections in Afghanistan is a NATO priority for 2009. The defense
ministers agreed that necessary forces should be provided to provide security
for the polls, said Appathurai.
The spokesman did not rule out the deployment of
NATO's rapid reaction force, the NATO Response Force (NRF), for this purpose. He
said the use of the NRF is unlikely but not impossible. "The allies intend to be
very flexible in terms of the way in which they categorize the forces that are
used for election support."
NATO defense ministers agreed to enhance support for
the Afghan national army and the national police.
Afghan national army force level will reach 86,000 by
the end of March 2009, well ahead of schedule, said the NATO spokesman. The
ultimate force level will be 134,000 by 2010, two years ahead of schedule.
The ministers are considering whether NATO should
expand its role in supporting the Afghan national police, whose development has
not been as successful as the army because of, primarily, corruption.
The ministers are considering whether NATO, which has
up to now been in a support role in police training, should take a direct role,
such as paramilitary training, said Appathurai.
KRAKOW, Poland, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- NATO Secretary General
Jaapde Hoop Scheffer on Thursday asked the allies to make more efforts in
Afghanistan, saying it cannot afford the price of failure.
"We cannot afford the price of failure in
Afghanistan. Instability in an already highly unstable region, a safe haven for
international terrorism, and massive suffering for the Afghan people is simply
too much to accept," he told a press conference at an informal meeting of NATO
defense ministers. Full story
KRAKOW, Poland, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- Kyrgyzstan's decision
to close an airbase used by the United States to lift supplies to its troops in
Afghanistan is not a concern to NATO, said the alliance's spokesman on Thursday.
The Manas base in Kyrgyzstan is used by the United States
and some other NATO allies, but not by NATO as an organization, said NATO
spokesman James Appathurai. "So this has no direct effect on the alliance." Full story
