More troops 'are needed in Afghanistan'
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Independent Minds
Nato believes more troops are needed in Afghanistan despite the objections of a senior US official, its secretary general said today after talks with Gordon Brown.
Anders Fogh Rasmussen met the Prime Minister in Downing Street as it emerged the US envoy in Kabul had advised President Barack Obama against a military surge.
Karl Eikenberry, who previously commanded troops in Afghanistan, urged caution until more evidence is seen that the new Afghan government has tackled widespread corruption.
Mr Obama is still grappling with his response to a plan drawn up by General Stanley McChrystal - commander of international forces in Afghanistan - for tens of thousands more troops.
The UK has already pledged a 500-strong reinforcement but it is dependent on allies putting in more resources and on President Hamid Karzai showing he has cleaned up the Afghan government.
Mr Brown said yesterday that he expected a decision by America within days but that was played down by the White House, which insisted it was "weeks and not days" away.
Asked what he would advise Mr Obama to do, Mr Rasmussen said: "We are right now in an intense phase of consultation among allies and I expect a decision on troop numbers to be taken within a very few weeks so I think it is a bit premature to make any final judgment on troop numbers.
"But for sure we need to strengthen training and education of Afghan soldiers and Afghan police so we will definitely need more trainers, more education facilities, equipment and money to sustain an increased number of Afghan security forces."
Speaking after the talks, he welcomed the British troop promise and said he "encouraged all allies to step up to the plate and provide more resources".
There have been criticisms that other Nato countries have failed to pull their weight in the multi-nation campaign.
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Comments
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20091130/r
Mind boggling to say the least.
In the past, the CIA created al-queda have fought back to remove US control over Middle East countries by bombing US installations including the US embassy in Nairobi. The staged 9/11 attacks are debatable. We know that members of al-queda live in Afghanistan. The main reason being these guys have lived there for many decades, they were called mujhadeen when fighting the Russians in the 1980's.
So what exactly have the taliban done to the USA or UK. Yes, they allowed members of al-queda to live amongst them - thats historical. But that was on the basis of religion doctrine, but not ideology in engaging in war with the USA. They both share the wahabbi doctrine.
It was Bush's famous "any friend, of the enemy of the US, becomes our enemy" that brought the taliban into the Bush axis-of-evil equation.
So the big question is - should British soldiers die on the basis of Bush's statement?
There is also talk wiping out the taliban "incase of future" attacks. Think about what that means! Its saying - "guilty and ready for execution for commiting a crime in the future". A "minority report" scenario.
But do we know who we are fighting?
Is it al-queda?
is it the taliban?
is it insurgents who family or clan memebers have been killed during this invasion?
or are we fighting an unknown enemy, whos numbers keep growing as we kill more of their family or clan members?
Can we through your paper rally the families of the dead men and those wounded to counter attack these evil people.
Denmark's woeful under-achiever pitches in to make sure that war is maintained! What a gutless piece of crap Rasmussen is.
That statement alone demonstrates just how far these people are out of touch with reality on the ground. They truly are in Fantasyland.
Hello, many of those trainees are in fact Taliban.