Only France brings more troops for NATO mission in Afghanistan
Source: AFP, 04-04-2008
BUCHAREST: NATO struggled Thursday to line up fresh troops to counter a stubborn Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan while allied leaders discussed a revamped international strategy to stabilize the country. France announced that it would send an additional battalion to Afghanistan, but Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper warned that more troops were needed.
"It is not enough overall," said Harper, whose government had threatened to withdraw its forces unless other allies sent reinforcements to its sector in the volatile south. "We continue to need more troops."
French President Nicolas Sarkozy said the French battalion, about 800 troops, would be deployed to eastern Afghanistan, which officials said would free up US troops to serve as reinforcements in the south.
The United States had previously ordered the deployment of 3,500 marines to Afghanistan, about 2,500 of whom will spend seven months in the south. The remainder will be used to train Afghan security forces.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, meanwhile, joined the summit session to discuss a better coordinated, comprehensive effort to strengthen the Afghan state more than six years after the Taliban's ouster.
Jose Manuel Barroso, head of the EU Commission, warned in remarks prepared for delivery that the Afghan government needed to display greater political will for the international political and economic reconstruction efforts to succeed.
The summiteers issued a "Strategic Vision" plan of NATO's goals and intentions on Thursday, in part in an attempt to shore up public support in the face of rising casualties. They pledged to boost troop numbers in Afghanistan to fight the Taliban, better share the burden of combat and ease restrictions on use of their forces.
US officials held out hope that more countries would announce additional troop contributions, but no other country immediately rushed to follow the French lead.
Harper praised the French decision, saying "it represents a significant and historic reengagement of France in NATO. The east is the next biggest danger after the south."
NATO's minimum needs, contained in a Combined Joint Statement of Requirements, call for two maneuver battalions and a border security battalion. But the commander of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force, General Dan McNeill, has requested as many as 10,000 more troops.
US Defense (War) Secretary Robert Gates said this week that he was "reasonably optimistic" that the minimum requirements would be met but there will not be "anywhere near" the number that the commander wants.
ISAF has grown from 33,000 troops in January 2007 to 47,000 at the end of March amid a violent challenge from the Taliban and other militants operating from sanctuaries in Pakistan and in Afghanistan's vast ungoverned spaces. A weak central government and record poppy harvests in Taliban-dominated Helmand Province have helped propel the resurgence.
BUCHAREST: NATO struggled Thursday to line up fresh troops to counter a stubborn Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan while allied leaders discussed a revamped international strategy to stabilize the country. France announced that it would send an additional battalion to Afghanistan, but Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper warned that more troops were needed.
"It is not enough overall," said Harper, whose government had threatened to withdraw its forces unless other allies sent reinforcements to its sector in the volatile south. "We continue to need more troops."
French President Nicolas Sarkozy said the French battalion, about 800 troops, would be deployed to eastern Afghanistan, which officials said would free up US troops to serve as reinforcements in the south.
The United States had previously ordered the deployment of 3,500 marines to Afghanistan, about 2,500 of whom will spend seven months in the south. The remainder will be used to train Afghan security forces.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, meanwhile, joined the summit session to discuss a better coordinated, comprehensive effort to strengthen the Afghan state more than six years after the Taliban's ouster.
Jose Manuel Barroso, head of the EU Commission, warned in remarks prepared for delivery that the Afghan government needed to display greater political will for the international political and economic reconstruction efforts to succeed.
The summiteers issued a "Strategic Vision" plan of NATO's goals and intentions on Thursday, in part in an attempt to shore up public support in the face of rising casualties. They pledged to boost troop numbers in Afghanistan to fight the Taliban, better share the burden of combat and ease restrictions on use of their forces.
US officials held out hope that more countries would announce additional troop contributions, but no other country immediately rushed to follow the French lead.
Harper praised the French decision, saying "it represents a significant and historic reengagement of France in NATO. The east is the next biggest danger after the south."
NATO's minimum needs, contained in a Combined Joint Statement of Requirements, call for two maneuver battalions and a border security battalion. But the commander of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force, General Dan McNeill, has requested as many as 10,000 more troops.
US Defense (War) Secretary Robert Gates said this week that he was "reasonably optimistic" that the minimum requirements would be met but there will not be "anywhere near" the number that the commander wants.
ISAF has grown from 33,000 troops in January 2007 to 47,000 at the end of March amid a violent challenge from the Taliban and other militants operating from sanctuaries in Pakistan and in Afghanistan's vast ungoverned spaces. A weak central government and record poppy harvests in Taliban-dominated Helmand Province have helped propel the resurgence.
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