NATO drums up more troops for Afghanistan

[unhappycamper]

NATO drums up more troops for Afghanistan
The Associated Press
Posted : Wednesday Oct 24, 2007 18:28:38 EDT

NOORDWIJK, Netherlands — NATO’s top diplomat reported progress in drumming up more troops for Afghanistan on Wednesday, after nations leading the battle against the Taliban stepped up pressure on more reluctant European allies.

“I’ve noticed offers from nations, including for the southern part of Afghanistan,” alliance Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer told reporters during talks among NATO defense ministers. “We have 90 percent filled of what we need, but ... there are still shortages.”

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates used the opening session of a two-day meeting in this blustery North Sea resort to press other allies to send more troops to the southern battlefields, where troops from the U.S., Canada and Britain are taking the lead.

NATO commanders also pressed for allies to come up with more teams of training experts to be embedded with Afghan army units. Allied generals see such units as vital for preparing Afghan forces to take the lead in security operations, eventually allowing NATO to start sending soldiers home.

Gates’ call for more troops was backed by the meeting’s host.

“There is no such thing as a free ride to peace and security,” Dutch Defense Minister Eimert van Middelkoop said in a veiled dig at nations such as Germany, France, Italy and Spain that have refused to send significant numbers of troops to Afghanistan’s dangerous southern region.


Rest of article at: http://www.armytimes.com/news/2007/10/ap_nato_071024/