By Prensa Latina,
Washington : Troops being sent to reinforce North Atlantic Treaty Organization troops in Afghanistan are far from satisfying US President George W. Bush’s demands.
USA Today on Monday noted that Bush’s recent European tour included participation in the military bloc summit in Bucharest, where he requested more troops from his allies to face an increase in actions by the Afghan resistance.
According to the daily’s website, six NATO member nations announced they would send some 2,000 soldiers to that central Asian country, a number far below the 8,000 troops requested by the military leaders at the theater of operations.
The greatest contribution would be from France, with 700 soldiers, and Georgia, which expects to enter NATO, with 500.
USA Today thus questioned National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley’s affirming that “the aid is on its way.”
Hadley did not take into account that the 120 soldiers promised by the Czech Republic must be authorized by its Parliament, while the 400 from Poland were promised in 2007, the source explained.
According to the influential media, faced with the military situation in Afghanistan and the poor answer from the rest of the NATO members, the Pentagon deployed 3,500 additional Marines to reach the 31,000 soldiers in that conflicted nation.
Hadley also asserted that 12 countries offered their contribution, although the majority referred to equipment and trainers, not to combat troops.
RAND think tank expert Seth Jones noted that everything indicates the United States cannot count on the other members of the alliance to solve the conflict.
Around 50,000 foreign military maintain the occupation of Afghanistan, a territory attacked in October 2001.