Bloomberg.com: U.K. Presses Europe for More Afghan Troops After Obama’s Surge - Kitty Donaldson and Mark Deen

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U.K. Presses Europe for More Afghan Troops After Obama’s Surge- Kitty Donaldson and Mark Deen

Defense Secretary John Hutton rebuffed suggestions that the U.K. needs to bolster its presence in Afghanistan, calling on European allies to do more after President Barack Obama sent another 17,000 U.S. troops there. After years of fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq, the British military is already overstretched and unable to add troops immediately, officers say. “The ball is absolutely in Europe’s court now, and we need to pick it up if we are going to be seen to be responsible, effective allies of the U.S. who are doing all the heavy lifting in Afghanistan,” Hutton said. The U.K. already has almost 8,300 troops in the theatre, the second-biggest contingent after the U.S. The U.S. currently has about 37,000 troops in Afghanistan.

Note EU-Digest:The EU (Europe) is right in being hesitant on Afghanistan. NATO has no serious long term plan as to "how to proceed on Afghanistan". There is a corrupt government there and the financial priorities of our own continent presently outweigh any further expenditures on nebulous military activities.