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NATO Wants More Troops for Afghanistan

Posted on: Tuesday, 30 September 2003, 06:00 CDT

Plans to expand the NATO-led peacekeeping force in Afghanistan could further strain thinly stretched allied forces, officials cautioned Tuesday.

NATO's military experts have presented a range of military options for extending the force of 5,500, which operates under a U.N. mandate and currently is restricted to operations in and around Kabul.

Although the plans remained confidential, officials at NATO headquarters said they could involve sending an additional 2,000-10,000 peacekeepers into major provincial cities.

Although diplomats said there was broad political support for the dispersal, officials wondered how allied nations would find additional troops given existing commitments in Iraq, Afghanistan and the Balkans.

Germany's ambassador to the U.N., Gunter Pleuger, said Monday the expanded force could operate in eight key regional cities to help stabilize Afghanistan ahead of elections next year. NATO officials said more cities could be included later.

The United Nations and the Afghan government have long sought an expansion of the International Security Assistance Force, or ISAF, into provinces now often under the sway of local warlords.

Ambassadors from the 19 NATO nations were set to debate the military plans Wednesday, and officials said a decision to expand ISAF could come soon.

However, the U.S. ambassador to NATO, Nicholas Burns, said he did not expect a decision in the coming days. Both the United Nations and NATO have to approve the force's wider mandate.

NATO Secretary General Lord Robertson has asked governments ahead of an October meeting of defense ministers in Colorado to examine the states of their deployable forces.

The 19 NATO nations have 4.4 million troops, but only a fraction of them are effectively equipped and trained for such far-flung missions.

Alliance officials acknowledged difficulties in expanding the current ISAF force, which NATO took responsibility for in August. They fear another recruitment drive for the force could reveal more weaknesses.

"Do we have enough strategic airlift to get European soldiers to Afghanistan? The answer is 'no,'" Burns told reporters.

France may be able to provide most of the troops.

NATO's Supreme Allied Commander Gen. James L. Jones told Newsweek magazine this week that France "has probably the most expeditionary army in Europe" and was "good at peacekeeping."

Germany and Canada contribute almost 2,000 soldiers each to ISAF and France about 900 soldiers. France also has taken a lead role in training the fledgling Afghan armed forces.

Germany is pushing to extend the mandate for an extra 230-450 soldiers to support reconstruction efforts in the northern city of Kunduz.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai warned last week that unless the world increases its reconstruction aid and sends more troops, Islamic radicals could regain control in Afghanistan.

The NATO mission in Kabul is separate from the 11,500-strong U.S.-led combat force fighting the Taliban and al-Qaida remnants in Afghanistan.

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