More US troops for Afghanistan

2008-04-04 18:02

Oleg Shchedrov and Mark John

Bucharest - President George W Bush pledged at a Nato summit to provide a "significant" number of extra US troops to the alliance mission in Afghanistan at a summit, US Defence Secretary Robert Gates said on Friday.

Bush told alliance leaders about the expected troop boost when they discussed Afghanistan in the Romanian capital Bucharest on Thursday, Gates told reporters on his plane as he flew out of the summit to the Gulf state of Oman.

"The president indicated that he expected in 2009 that the US would make a significant additional contribution," Gates said.

Bush leaves office in January 2009, but Gates said the war in Afghanistan against Taliban insurgents enjoyed broad political support in the US and he expected the next president would honour the pledge.

"I believe this is one area where there is very broad bipartisan support in the US for being successful and I think that no matter who is elected they will want to be successful in Afghanistan," Gates said.

"I think this was a pretty safe thing for him to say."

The US is the biggest contributor to Nato's 47 000-strong force in Afghanistan, with around 17 000 troops.

Gates said it was too soon to put a figure on how many more US troops may deploy to Afghanistan or define their role or likely location.

Agreement with Russia

Earlier on Friday, Russia agreed to let Nato use its land to deliver non-lethal supplies to alliance forces in Afghanistan, but not troops or air transit arrangements initially sought by Nato.

The deal was showcased at a summit between alliance leaders and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Bucharest as evidence of co-operation between the former Cold War foes, even though it fell short of Nato hopes.

"It has been done," a Nato spokesperson said of the deal with Russia. "It will cover land transit of non-lethal equipment. Air transit is not for today."

A subsequent statement said an existing Nato-Russian programme on training local counter-narcotics officials would be upgraded to a more permanent arrangement.

Afghanistan was a major topic of discussion for Nato leaders on Thursday, when several countries pledged to boost their contributions to the alliance's force there. More details of their contributions emerged on Friday.

Of the nations that announced more forces, France offered the biggest contribution of 700 soldiers.

- Reuters