US scrambles to gain support of allies in Afghanistan

The US is trying hard to persuade its NATO allies to send 10,000 additional troops to Afghanistan, as part of President Obama's new strategy for the war-torn country.

However, NATO members and other foreign allies have expressed reluctance to send more soldiers because of the Afghan war's growing unpopularity in their countries and increasing concerns over corruption in President Hamid Karzai's government.

American and allied officials say NATO appears willing to provide fewer than half of the desired number.

After weeks of deliberation President Barack Obama is to announce his Afghan war policy on Tuesday, while the US administration has to confront several hurdles in order to garner more allied contributions.

In Britain, which has pledged an additional 500 troops, Defense Minister Bob Ainsworth said on Tuesday that Obama had taken too long to decide on a new strategy, harming the British government's ability to rally public support for the war.

Germany and France have not yet pledged into committing any more forces to a war that has so little public support.

In August, an IFOP poll of 1,005 French voters found that 64 percent opposed France's participation in the Afghan war.