KABUL (AFP) – Afghanistan warned Thursday of catastrophe if NATO abandoned its mission as US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and her British counterpart flew into the heart of the Taliban insurgency.
Rice and British Foreign Secretary David Miliband made their surprise visit amid heated debate among NATO nations about the mission, with countries in the volatile south calling for more help and some threats to pull out.
It would be “catastrophic” for the world to abandon Afghanistan, a presidential spokesman told AFP before Rice and Miliband held talks with President Hamid Karzai.
But the government was confident the nations in NATO’s International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) would find the resources needed to see through the mission, Homayun Hamidzada told AFP.
“The consequences of not finishing the job here, and we have seen them first-hand in the events of September 11, will be catastrophic for the region and the world,” he said.
Rice and Miliband met around 200 soldiers at a major NATO airbase in southern Kandahar province, the birthplace of the Taliban movement, before their talks with Karzai.
“As the debate hots up in our countries about what you’re doing and the difference you’re making, we’ll be defending you heart and soul,” Miliband told troops at Kandahar Air Field.
Rice said their efforts would leave an “extraordinary legacy of peace and democracy” for Afghanistan and the world.
US forces led the invasion of Afghanistan that removed the hardline Taliban from government weeks after the September 11, 2001 by the Al-Qaeda terror network, which then had bases in Afghanistan.
Despite the efforts of nearly 60,000 international troops working alongside Afghan forces, the Taliban’s insurgency was its most deadly last year with more than 6,000 people killed, including nearly 220 international soldiers.
As Rice and Miliband began their visit, a car bomb struck a NATO military vehicle in the eastern province of Khost and wounded three soldiers, the alliance’s International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said.
ISAF did not give the nationalities of the wounded but most foreign troops in the east are US nationals.
Police said the attack, similar to scores carried out by the Taliban, was a suicide blast and the bomber was the only victim.
ISAF commanders have been calling for around 7,500 extra troops to fight the Taliban threat.
The force comprises 42,000 troops from 39 countries — some of them in their most fierce fighting for decades.
En route to Afghanistan, Rice told reporters that she was confident there would be more troops.
The United States has already pledged to send around 3,200 reinforcements in the spring, when the violence traditionally heats up.
“Frankly, I hope that there will be more troop contributions and there need to be more Afghan contributions,” she said.
When asked what would happen if other NATO countries failed to contribute, she said: “In the final analysis, you will see more troop contributions.” “The problem is we have to make sure they are the right troop contributions and in the right place.”
Germany has however rebuffed US calls for more troops in the battle-scarred south, the scene of most of the fighting against the Islamist Taliban militia, in a tiff played out publicly.
Canada has meanwhile threatened not to extend its mission beyond next year unless it gets more support.
Domestic support among some ISAF nations for the mission has plummeted as more troops are killed and as the violence has escalated along with the country’s opium production.