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Afghanistan surge

December 4, 2009

As top diplomats met to discuss Afghanistan, NATO members are significantly stepping up troop levels there. The alliance's head said countries have to cooperate for the Afghan mission to be successful.

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NATO troops returning to based after a mission in Afganistan
NATO has committed 7,000 additional troops to AfghanistanImage: AP

The foreign ministers of NATO nations concluded a meeting in Brussels on Friday after discussing the war in Afghanistan. The meeting came three days after US President Barack Obama announced plans to send an additional 30,000 US troops to Afghanistan, while also requesting that other NATO allies commit to sending between 5,000 and 7,000 more.

"Every single foreign minister attending this meeting ... needs to ask themselves whether they are doing the maximum possible on the military and civilian side to ensure success in Afghanistan," British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said as he arrived at the meeting.

As a result of Friday morning's talks, 25 NATO nations announced they will send a combined 7,000 more troops, NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen announced.

"That is solidarity in action and it will have a powerful effect on the ground," Rasmussen said.

'Bring it to an end'

Rasmussen had supported the increase in troop levels in Afghanistan in an article appearing in Friday's German daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung.

"This is not Obama's war alone," Rasmussen wrote. "We are all equally at risk of the threats from Afghanistan: terrorism, drug trafficking and extremism. This is an effort by the entire alliance, and together we will bring it to an end."

NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen
NATO members can't regard the Afghanistan war as a US problem, Rasmussen saidImage: AP

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived for the meeting in Brussels early on Friday.

The US government welcomed the contributions from fellow NATO members, describing them as "hefty." White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said the administration was "extremely pleased."

Both France and Germany, two of the largest contributors of troops after the US and UK, have announced their intention to hold off on committing more troops until after an Afghanistan Conference to be held in London during January.

Fighting public opinion

Germany's forces in Afghanistan are not expected to be increased after the Bundestag voted to extend the Bundeswehr's deployment to Afghanistan while maintaining a 4,500-troop limit on Thursday.

In response to a request for more troops, Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said Friday that while Germany would be willing to supply more civilian aid, more troops would be "inappropriate."

"We are ready to do more in civilian development, especially in building up and training the police, so that there can be self-sustaining security by the Afghans in Afghanistan," Westerwelle said.

Reducing, not increasing, troop levels in Afghanistan is a perspective that is crystal clear for the government, the German minister added.

Berlin is facing an uphill battle as public opinion of its participation in Afghanistan has recently declined. Last week German military chief of staff Wolfgang Schneiderhan stepped down and former Defense Minister Franz Josef Jung resigned his new position as labor minister over controversy stemming from September's fatal airstrike near Kunduz that killed many civilians.

sjt/dpa/AFP
Editor: Sean Sinico

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