Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and the British foreign secretary, David Miliband, made an unannounced visit to this former Taliban stronghold Thursday amid a push by Washington to get other NATO members to deploy more combat troops in southern Afghanistan.
Rice said the brief visit to this southern city was not an attempt to show up European nations that had refused to send fighting troops to the area. NATO defense ministers are discussing the Afghan mission Thursday and Friday in the Lithuanian capital, Vilnius.
It's just the rationale of being able to get outside of Kabul and see one of the areas that's been very active, Rice told reporters before the diplomats' arrival. I don't think there's any message there to anyone.
Kandahar was the Taliban's stronghold even after their regime was toppled by the U.S.-led assault in 2001. Allied forces pushed the militants out of the city in 2006 and 2007, but the area is still dangerous; Canada has threatened to remove its combat forces based around Kandahar unless NATO supplies about 2,000 reinforcements.
It's not an overwhelming number of forces that is being sought here, Rice said. This is a troop contribution level that NATO can meet and should meet.
The Kandahar visit was a rare side trip outside Kabul by Rice and Miliband, who never left a NATO airfield during their stay of less than three hours.
They met with about 200 troops. As the debate hots up about what you are doing here, we will be defending you heart and soul, Miliband told them.
Earlier Thursday, the two diplomats arrived in Kabul, carrying a joint message of support and prodding to Afghan officials, including President Hamid Karzai. The two made clear that they expected cooperation from the Karzai government, which is widely seen as weak.
The Afghan government has responsibilities, too, Rice told reporters. This is a two-way street, and I think everybody has to step back and concern ourselves with the Taliban.
All 26 NATO nations have soldiers in Afghanistan, and all agree that the mission is a top priority. But the refusal of European allies to send more combat troops to the south is forcing an already stretched U.S. military focused on the Iraq war to fill the gap and is straining the Western alliance.
I do think the alliance is facing a real test here, Rice said at a news conference with Miliband in London on Wednesday before they flew together to Afghanistan.
In Washington, Defense Secretary Robert Gates scolded NATO countries who hadn't committed combat troops willing to fight and die to defeat the Taliban, which has been resurgent in the south. I think that it puts a cloud over the future of the alliance if this is to endure and perhaps even get worse, he said Wednesday.
Gates said he was not optimistic that an influx of 3,000 more marines into Afghanistan this spring would be enough to put the war effort back on track. He said he had sent letters to every other NATO defense minister asking them to contribute more troops and equipment but had not received any replies.
Gates insisted he would continue to be a nag on this issue in the meetings with the NATO defense ministers in Vilnius. He said that only the Canadians, British, Australians, Dutch and Danes are really out there on the line and fighting.
Britain has confirmed that it would not increase the size of its force in Afghanistan. Some NATO nations had hoped that Britain would essentially transfer fighting forces from Iraq, where its operations are scaling down.
Britain has about 7,700 soldiers in Afghanistan and will replace infantry troops with more paratroopers during a routine changeover in April. Prime Minister Gordon Brown told lawmakers Wednesday that he would continue to push European allies to provide more combat troops.
Some NATO countries have bristled at the public criticism from Washington over the refusal to commit forces in the south. Germany, for example, under its parliamentary mandate can send only 3,500 soldiers to the less dangerous north as part of the 42,000-strong NATO mission.
Few NATO officials expect major new contributions to be announced during the meetings in Vilnius, but Washington wants to extract promises over coming weeks for reinforcements in the south by the end of the year.
The Taliban have suffered heavy casualties whenever they have fought NATO forces, but have dramatically undermined the sense of security with a wave of suicide bombings across the country.
The Taliban conducted more than 140 suicide missions last year, the most since the regime was ousted from power in late 2001. NATO commanders believe the tactic is aimed at sapping the will of European governments to keep troops in the country in the face of popular disquiet.
Source:RamblerNews