Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
Reuters.com
June 12, 2008 By Kristin Roberts, Reuters
BRUSSELS -- The United States urged NATO allies on Thursday to send more forces to Afghanistan to boost security along the Pakistan border, and pressed states that had pledged troops to say when they would arrive.
While military commanders and the Pentagon have complained for years about a shortage of troops, the call for help has become more urgent as senior alliance generals warn Pakistani efforts to strike peace deals with Islamist militants could give Taliban fighters freedom to wage attacks in the area.
"The difficulty in the eastern border and southern border with Pakistan is well understood, particularly along the loosely governed areas, if you can even take it that far, of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, the FATA," said Vice Adm. William Sullivan, U.S. military representative to NATO.
"More forces are needed," he told reporters at a NATO defense ministers meeting in Brussels.
Sullivan said Afghanistan's border problems could be solved without additional troops, but it would take longer and more U.S. and NATO forces would die in the process.
The United States has 33,000 troops in Afghanistan. Of them, 14,000 are part of NATO's force of 53,000, and the rest fall under a U.S.-led operation.
The Pentagon sent an extra 3,000 Marines to Afghanistan to fill gaps as the approach of spring made fighting more likely.
Those troops are scheduled to return home in November and U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates will not offer to keep them there any longer, according to a senior U.S. defense official traveling with the Pentagon chief.
"The position on the Marines has not changed. They're there until the fall and then they're coming home," that official told reporters en route to Brussels.
While President George W. Bush has said the United States could send extra troops in 2009, he leaves office in January, so any decision will be left to his successor - either Republican Sen. John McCain or Democratic Sen. Barack Obama.
"What will happen with the next fighting season, that's going to be something the next secretary of defense will have to deal with," the U.S. defense official said.
Violence in Afghanistan has worsened more than seven years after the U.S.-led invasion toppled the Taliban. Attacks have increased, as have the number of military and civilian casualties, since 2006, when the Taliban started to regroup.
Some allies in Europe, where there is considerable public skepticism about the Afghan mission, have been irritated by the U.S. calls to do more in a place they believe the United States has neglected to focus on Iraq.
But France, for example, said it would send 700 troops to eastern Afghanistan, which should allow U.S. troops to shift to the south to reinforce Canadian troops in a region that has seen some of the worst violence in the country.
The United States is seeking a timeline on that French troop movement during this week's meetings in Brussels, according to another senior U.S. defense official traveling with Defense Secretary Robert Gates.
"I don't have a sense for the French timetable," that official said. "We may get a better sense from the French (minister of defense) over the next couple days of the timing for that, of when the French forces may move."
Military commanders say they still need about three battalions worth of troops - or about 1,500 to 1,800 troops.
June 12, 2008 By Kristin Roberts, Reuters
BRUSSELS -- The United States urged NATO allies on Thursday to send more forces to Afghanistan to boost security along the Pakistan border, and pressed states that had pledged troops to say when they would arrive.
While military commanders and the Pentagon have complained for years about a shortage of troops, the call for help has become more urgent as senior alliance generals warn Pakistani efforts to strike peace deals with Islamist militants could give Taliban fighters freedom to wage attacks in the area.
"The difficulty in the eastern border and southern border with Pakistan is well understood, particularly along the loosely governed areas, if you can even take it that far, of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, the FATA," said Vice Adm. William Sullivan, U.S. military representative to NATO.
"More forces are needed," he told reporters at a NATO defense ministers meeting in Brussels.
Sullivan said Afghanistan's border problems could be solved without additional troops, but it would take longer and more U.S. and NATO forces would die in the process.
The United States has 33,000 troops in Afghanistan. Of them, 14,000 are part of NATO's force of 53,000, and the rest fall under a U.S.-led operation.
The Pentagon sent an extra 3,000 Marines to Afghanistan to fill gaps as the approach of spring made fighting more likely.
Those troops are scheduled to return home in November and U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates will not offer to keep them there any longer, according to a senior U.S. defense official traveling with the Pentagon chief.
"The position on the Marines has not changed. They're there until the fall and then they're coming home," that official told reporters en route to Brussels.
While President George W. Bush has said the United States could send extra troops in 2009, he leaves office in January, so any decision will be left to his successor - either Republican Sen. John McCain or Democratic Sen. Barack Obama.
"What will happen with the next fighting season, that's going to be something the next secretary of defense will have to deal with," the U.S. defense official said.
Violence in Afghanistan has worsened more than seven years after the U.S.-led invasion toppled the Taliban. Attacks have increased, as have the number of military and civilian casualties, since 2006, when the Taliban started to regroup.
Some allies in Europe, where there is considerable public skepticism about the Afghan mission, have been irritated by the U.S. calls to do more in a place they believe the United States has neglected to focus on Iraq.
But France, for example, said it would send 700 troops to eastern Afghanistan, which should allow U.S. troops to shift to the south to reinforce Canadian troops in a region that has seen some of the worst violence in the country.
The United States is seeking a timeline on that French troop movement during this week's meetings in Brussels, according to another senior U.S. defense official traveling with Defense Secretary Robert Gates.
"I don't have a sense for the French timetable," that official said. "We may get a better sense from the French (minister of defense) over the next couple days of the timing for that, of when the French forces may move."
Military commanders say they still need about three battalions worth of troops - or about 1,500 to 1,800 troops.