Gates to seek Afghan aid without talking troops

[unhappycamper]

Gates to seek Afghan aid without talking troops
By LARA JAKES
Associated Press Writer

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Thursday he will prod NATO allies this week for more economic and security aid to Afghanistan while trying to sidestep the simmering international debate over sending more troops to the fight.

Faced with dwindling public support for the 8-year-old war, NATO officials have signaled they won't ask their nations to send more troops until the Obama administration decides whether America will.

They won't get an answer from Gates, who was flying Thursday to a two-day NATO meeting in Bratislava, Slovakia, where the future of Afghanistan is at the top of the agenda of a meeting of the organization's defense ministers.

"There is ample for us to discuss going forward, completely independent of how many additional troops the president, and frankly other members of the alliance may decide to send," Gates said at a news conference in Seoul before leaving for Bratislava.

Gates said he hasn't fully decided if he agrees with a request from the top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan to deploy as few as 10,000 and as many as 80,000 more American troops. And he said he won't reveal his own recommendation to NATO ministers before he shares it with President Barack Obama.


Rest of article at: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AS_GATES_AFGHANISTAN?SITE=DCSAS&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2009-10-22-09-14-55



unhappycamper comment: As the US nears bankruptcy (read this) Gates is out begging for money to keep the occupation going.