US defense secretary presses NATO for more troops for Afghanistan
WASHINGTON (AFP) — US Defense Secretary Robert Gates Tuesday called on NATO allies to fill shortfalls of troops, equipment and resources in Afghanistan, warning of rising violence and the emergence of a classic insurgency.
Gates said the United States was not prepared to continue filling a shortfall in helicopters beyond January, and his top military chief said there were limits to what the United States can provide.
"My own view is I'm not ready to let NATO off the hook in Afghanistan at this point," Gates told the House Armed Services Committee.
Gates and Admiral Michael Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said violence has increased, particularly in southern Afghanistan, since a NATO-led force assumed responsibility for security throughout the country in October 2006.
Mullen said levels of violence nationwide were up 27 percent over last year, and that in the southern Helmand province the increase was 60 percent.
The admiral described the developments as "a classic insurgency" that required "a well coordinated counter-insurgency strategy."
"And while I applaud NATO for stepping up to the plate, the ISAF is plagued by shortfalls in capability and capacity, and constrained by a host of caveats that limits its ability," he said.
Mullen was referring to the 40,000-strong, NATO-led International Security Assistance Force.
At the same time, Mullen said there were limits to what the US military can provide when the bulk of its resources are devoted to the war in Iraq.
"The war in Afghanistan is by design and necessity an economy of force operation. There is no getting around it," Mullen said.
"Our main focus militarily in the region and the world right now is rightly and firmly in Iraq," he said. "In Afghanistan we do what we can. In Iraq we do what we must."
The United States has about 26,000 troops in Afghanistan compared to more than 160,000 in Iraq.
Gates, who visited Afghanistan a week ago, said he plans to discuss the shortfalls at a meeting in Scotland this week of defense ministers of countries contributing troops to ISAF in southern Afghanistan.
He said they include 3,000 trainers, mainly for the Afghan police but also the army; 20 medium, heavy lift and attack helicopters; and three maneuver battalions.
"The numbers are not all that big, which frankly is one of the sources of frustration to me in terms of our allies not being able to step up to the plate," he said.
Nevertheless, Gates said some allies have consistently provided forces, including France which has said it will keep forces in Afghanistan and fill a gap left by departing Dutch forces in the south.
The biggest unfilled need is for police trainers, he said.
The European Union had promised 160 police trainers, but only 70 were in country, he said.
Police corruption and the lack of government services are seen as major contributors to a growing public disaffection with the government of President Hamid Karzai.
Gates said the number of non-US troops has increased by about 3,500 since ISAF assumed responsibility for the entire country.
"That said, much more can and should be done," he said.
Gates said that part of the problem was that NATO allies had differing views about the alliance's purpose in a post Cold War period.
NATO needs to take a step back and draft a "strategic concept" for where it wants to be three to five years in Afghanistan, he said.
"The Afghanistan mission has exposed real limitation in the way the alliance is organized, operated and equipped," he said.
"We're in a post-Cold War environment. We have to be ready to operate in distant locations against insurgencies and terrorist networks," he said.
Meanwhile, Afghanistan's defence ministry said Wednesday that more than 50 Taliban were killed in two days of "intense clashes" near the southern town of Musa Qala, which was taken from the militants this week.
The fighting in southern Helmand province's Sangin district which neighbours Musa Qala erupted after the Taliban were forced out of the town, the ministry said in a statement.
"The terrorists, after being defeated in Musa Qala, attempted to put pressure on Sangin district. During 48 hours of intense clashes around Sangin, over 50 terrorists have been killed," it said.
It said three of the dead were foreign nationals. Al-Qaeda-linked foreign fighters are said to be helping the Taliban in their insurgency against the government and its Western allies.
Three Taliban commanders were also killed in the fighting, which was supported by the NATO-led air force, the statement said, adding that no civilians or friendly forces were killed.
