As political and military leaders across the globe pondered the import of President Obama’s announcement of his Afghan strategy, the NATO secretary general said Wednesday he believed other members of the alliance would contribute 5,000 soldiers — and possibly more — to make a “substantial” increase to the 43-nation coalition fighting the Taliban. Speaking at the alliance’s headquarters in Brussels, the official, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, said he anticipated “at least 5,000 more forces from other countries in our alliance and possibly a few thousand more” to bolster NATO’s current contingent of around 42,000 soldiers in Afghanistan. The figure fell somewhat short of American hopes, voiced by officials before the president’s speech, that the NATO allies would contribute up to 8,000 additional soldiers.
In Europe, the appeal drew an ambivalent response. France and Germany immediately ruled out an immediate commitment of more ground forces. But Poland was reported to be considering increasing its contingent by 600 soldiers from its current level of 2,000, Reuters reported, and a Spanish newspaper said Spain might increase its deployment by 200 soldiers to 1,200. Britain pledged to press other allies to boost their contingents and Italy hinted at an unspecified increase beyond its current 2,800 soldiers in the patchwork of foreign troops in Afghanistan, known as the International Security Assistance Force.
Note EU-Digest: we can only hope a deal can eventually be made with the Taliban, which provides everyone the opportunity to get out of Afghanistan and if the Taliban does not keep their side of the bargain, make their life very uncomfortable by using all the military superiority the West has. Fighting the Taliban on their terms in a ground war will never work and also bankrupt the Western alliance economic resources.
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