NATO's Afghan troop plea snubbed

[Mr Hooky]

NATO's Afghan troop plea snubbed

BRUSSELS, Belgium -- NATO members have failed to respond to a call from military commanders for reinforcements to try to quell the Taliban insurgency in southern Afghanistan, an alliance spokesman said.



"No formal offers were made at the table," James Appathurai told reporters Wednesday in Brussels, where the 26-nation group was meeting.

NATO's top operational commander, U.S. General James Jones, appealed for 2,000 to 2,500 more troops last week, saying the force was about 15 percent short of full strength.

The Taliban have recently staged a resurgence following an initial routing of the Islamic militant group from its control of Afghanistan by a U.S.-led operation two months after the September 11, 2001, terrorists attacks in the United States.

NATO commanders admit the level of resistance was more than they were expecting but Jones said the extra troops could help to defeat the Taliban in the region.

But on Wednesday, military commanders said their efforts to muster reinforcements for the 20,000-strong NATO force and greater air cover were likely to fail.

European allies, with thousands of troops already committed in Afghanistan, Iraq, Kosovo, Bosnia, Congo and Lebanon are reluctant to send more to Kandahar and Helmand, where recent fighting has killed 30 NATO troops and hundreds of militants.

The alliance said Wednesday that suicide bombings have killed 173 people -- mostly Afghan civilians -- in Afghanistan this year. (Full story)

"The signs are not particularly good for a rapid response," Lord Timothy Garden of London's Chatham House think tank, told The Associated Press.

"This has been going on in different theaters for years and years now, really since 1999 in Kosovo, and all our militaries are getting pretty threadbare."

"Nations are saying they are tapped out," one anonymous alliance diplomat told Reuters.

"Do not expect much today," said another NATO source.

Washington's ambassador to the alliance on Wednesday praised the U.S., Britain, Canada and the Netherlands for their combat efforts in Afghanistan, but urged other NATO members to send reinforcements.

"What we are looking to do is to put more forces in so that we can turn the tide faster," she told BBC radio. "The issue here ... is the fighting capability and the fighting willingness of all allies."

Prime Minister Tony Blair's spokesman dismissed any prospect of Britain, which already has 4,000 soldiers in Afghanistan, sending more troops.

"We have made our contribution and ... if you talk to NATO they recognize that," he told reporters.

CNN - Click to see full story

[Grimmy]

Oh give me a freekin break. These weak suck nations deploy a few hundered folk on occasion and they're all spent out.



What weak, pathetic shit.

[cincymarsdad]

tapped out ...

I'm glad the Bear didn't decide to come through the Fulda Gap back when ...

... everyone would have been tapped out.

[Mr Hooky]

Poland to boost Nato Afghan force

Poland has announced it will send 1,000 troops to Afghanistan next year as part of the Nato peacekeeping force there.


Nato has commanded the Isaf peacekeeping force since 2003

They will join 100 Polish soldiers already on the ground in Afghanistan, but will not arrive until February.

The announcement comes after Nato generals met on Wednesday to demand an extra 2,500 troops for the operation in southern Afghanistan.

Nato forces in the south are facing mounting casualties as they engage in fierce fighting with the Taleban.

There are at least 18,500 foreign, mainly Nato soldiers in Afghanistan in addition to about the same number of US troops deployed.

Half of them are in the south where Canadian and British forces are sharing the burden with US aircraft support and special forces on the ground.

In further clashes:

Twelve Taleban and an Afghan policemen were killed in Helmand province in a joint operation involving the Afghan army, police and British troops, police said

Taleban militants also raided governmental headquarters in Farah province, killing one policeman during hours of fighting, police said

Four more policemen in the province died in an attack on their convoy.

BBC News - Click to see full story

[Grimmy]

Poland has been working pretty hard at stepping up.