Obama to ask for 4,000 more NATO troops in Afghanistan

Times:

President Obama is to ask members of Nato to provide up to 4,000 more troops to help to break the deadlock in Afghanistan.

Mr Obama is poised to confirm a surge of more than 30,000 US combat troops, according to senior military sources. He will also urge the rest of Nato to provide thousands of soldiers to train new recruits to the Afghan National Army (ANA).

His appeal is set to be largely ignored, however. At present only two Nato members have offered more troops — Britain and Turkey — and no other country is expected to come up with any, according to alliance sources. Such a response would threaten the credibility of the alliance in Afghanistan and represent a considerable snub for Mr Obama, who was viewed as a welcome change after the administration of President Bush.

Nato military officials are to meet in Belgium on November 23 at a “force generation” conference in which each ally will be asked to contribute towards the expansion of the ANA, either by sending extra trainers or more money for the training programme.

Mr Obama is expected to confirm that the campaign in Afghanistan needs another 40,000 troops, meeting the request made by General Stanley McChrystal, the US commander in Kabul, more than ten weeks ago, but that a proportion of the 40,000 — up to ten per cent — should be for other Nato countries to provide.

Turkey is increasing its military presence from 720 soldiers to 1,488 having assumed responsibility for Nato’s International Security Assistance Force in Kabul on November 1. Britain has offered 500 more troops but their deployment depends on other Nato countries making similar pledges.

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Many Europeans have a lack of commitment to winning this war. Unfortunately, many of these socialist countries have squandered their wealth on social programs and health care spending. I hope the story is right about the US commitment.