|
More troops pledged for Afghanistan
Send a link to a friend
[October 22, 2007]
KIEV, Ukraine (AP) --
Defense Secretary Robert Gates urged members of a European defense group Monday to boost their contributions to security efforts in Afghanistan, warning that the group "risks eventual irrelevance" unless it does more to fight terrorism and increase European security cooperation.
|
|
 In an address to the Southeast European Defense Ministers, which was created in 1996 in a U.S.-led initiative designed to enhance security in the Balkans, Gates praised the group for sending a small headquarters element to Kabul, Afghanistan, last year and said more such missions should be considered."Given the wide range of global threats which confront us, contributions by SEDM members to the war on terrorism are particularly important," Gates said, according to a transcript of his remarks released after the start of the closed-door conference. SEDM is the acronym for the defense organization.
"SEDM risks eventual irrelevance if it is principally only a talk-shop," Gates said. "To sustain and increase SEDM's relevance, member nations must be willing to address these crucial issues."
Gates was using the meeting to underscore the importance of international assistance for Afghanistan, where violence remains high despite some success this year in blunting a planned Taliban offensive.
Gates has been pushing for more help in Afghanistan from European countries, not only those in the NATO alliance but others with security and other resources that could contribute to stabilizing the country.
[to top of second column]
 |
 Slovak officials told Gates during a conference of southeast European defense ministers that they will send at least 47 more troops to Uruzgan province in southern Afghanistan, where they will work with Dutch forces, Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell said. That will increase its troop total in Afghanistan to 125 next year, he said.
Slovakia also will send eight doctors to work at a military hospital in Kabul, the Afghan capital, Morrell said.
After the meeting Gates was headed to the Czech Republic for talks on the U.S. proposal to install a missile-tracking radar there as part of a Europe-based U.S. missile defense system that is strongly opposed by Russia.
Later this week Gates is scheduled to attend a meeting of NATO defense ministers in the Netherlands, where Afghanistan is expected to be a central focus of talks.
Much of the higher levels of violence in Afghanistan has been in the southern and eastern provinces. The insurgents are increasingly using Iraq-style tactics, such as roadside bombs, suicide attacks and kidnappings to hit foreign and Afghan targets around the country.
[Associated Press; by Robert Burns]
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This
material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or
redistributed. |
