The United States pressed reluctant allies Monday to provide more peacekeepers for Afghanistan as top envoys from NATO made an unprecedented visit to review security in the country. The visit by NATO's decision-making body, the North Atlantic Council, was the first since the alliance took over the 6,500-member peacekeeping mission in the Afghan capital eight months ago. It was the first time the 26-nation council met outside Europe or North America. "NATO needs to go faster and accelerate its buildup of troops in Afghanistan," said Nicholas Burns, the U.S. ambassador to NATO after a day of meetings in Kabul. Burns said countries without troops tied up in Iraq, such as Germany, Turkey and France, could do more in Afghanistan, where the alliance is struggling to make good on a pledge to expand its peacekeeping force of 6,500. He also pointed to Spain, which is planning to withdraw its 1,300 troops from Iraq. "There are a number of countries that are not present in Iraq ... and they could do more in Afghanistan," Burns told reporters.
| NATO ought to be able to put a peacekeeping force in each of the large cities. |
The peacekeeping mission is now limited to the capital and the northern city of Kunduz. Diplomats said President Hamid Karzai renewed his appeal for the alliance to act urgently to send more troops both to expand the peacekeeping operation to more cities and provide additional protection in the run-up to presidential and parliamentary elections scheduled for September. NATO allies agreed months ago to expand the mission and set a target of sending peacekeeping teams to five more cities in the north and west of Afghanistan by late June. However, nations have been hesitant in coming forward with troops for the costly and potentially dangerous operation.
| "No one told us this would be costly and dangerous!" |
U.S. Gen. James L. Jones, NATO's top commander, told reporters he was confident the alliance would stick to its target. "The force is about 85-90 percent generated ... That's the bulk of it," he said. Lt. Gen. David Barno, the top American commander in Afghanistan, said the expected upsurge of insurgent attacks was less intense than expected, indicating their weakened capacity. "They can't operate in large units any more and they have to look for ways to minimize their vulnerability," he said. Canadian Lt. Gen. Rick Hillier, NATO's commander in Kabul, said there were signs terrorist were seeking to target the peacekeeping force or Afghan government institutions. "We're under no false illusions here there's always a risk."
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